Mac OS X Lion 'tomorrow' [update]

Stephen Withers
Wednesday, 20 July 2011 09:05

Business IT - Technology

The wait is almost over. Apple is ready to ship Mac OS X 10.7 Lion.

Following weeks of speculation, Apple chief financial officer Peter Oppenheimer has announced Mac OS X Lion will be released tomorrow, Wednesday July 20 US time (Thursday July 21, Australian time).

"We are very excited," he said, reiterating some of the 250 new features in Lion.

Lion will be available from the Mac App Store for $31.99. The server version is an extra $51.99.

People who purchased a 'qualifying' Mac (Apple has yet to define that term) on or after June 6, 2011 are entitled to an upgrade to Lion at no extra charge. Existing owners must claim by August 30, while those who purchase a qualifying Mac from tomorrow have 30 days to make their claim.

Mr Oppenheimer noted that the company will recognise revenue from Lion and iLife over a period of four years. This implies that we won't see Mac OS X 10.8 until 2015, and that Apple is planning to deliver significant new functionality within Lion at no additional charge during that time.

The company has previously been criticised for charging for certain software upgrades such as the 802.11n enabler for some Macs that were sold as offering only 802.11g Wi-Fi interfaces.

Mr Oppenheimer said Apple estimates that the combined value of software upgrade rights and iCloud services was $US22 per Lion licence.