Apple to sell Mac OS X 10.7 Lion for $29.99 only in Mac App Store

Posted:
in macOS edited January 2014
Apple announced on Monday that Mac OS X 10.7 Lion will be available only in the Mac App Store, and the operating system upgrade will be available for just $29.99.



A new developer preview of Lion will be available to download today, while the final product will become available to users on the Mac App Store in July. The Mac App Store release of Lion and aggressive pricing of the operating system were both first reported by AppleInsider earlier this year.



Mac OS X 10.7 Lion was demonstrated Monday by Phil Schiller, Apple's senior vice president of Worldwide Product Marketing, and Craig Federighi, head of Mac OS X Software. Together, they demonstrated 10 of the more than 250 new features found in Lion.



"The Mac has outpaced the PC industry every quarter for five years running and with OS X Lion we plan to keep extending our lead," Schiller said. "The best version of OS X yet, Lion is packed with innovative features such as new Multi-Touch gestures, system-wide support for full screen apps, and Mission Control for instantly accessing everything running on your Mac."



Features



Features of Mac OS X 10.7 Lion highlighted by Apple include:

New Multi-Touch gestures and fluid animations built into Lion let you interact directly with content on the screen for a more intuitive way to use your Mac. New gestures include momentum scrolling, tapping or pinching your fingers to zoom in on a web page or image, and swiping left or right to turn a page or switch between full screen apps. All Mac notebooks ship with Multi-Touch trackpads and desktop Macs can use Apple?s Magic Trackpad.



Full screen apps take advantage of the entire display and are perfect for reading email, surfing the web or browsing photos, especially on a MacBook Air or MacBook Pro. With a single click your app fills the display and you can swipe from one window to another, between full screen apps, or back to your Desktop, Dashboard or Spaces without ever leaving full screen. iWork and iLife apps, as well as Safari, iTunes, Mail, FaceTime and others, all take advantage of Lion?s system-wide support for full screen apps.







Mission Control combines Exposé, full screen apps, Dashboard and Spaces into one unified experience for a bird?s eye view of every app and window running on your Mac. With a simple swipe, your desktop zooms out to display your open windows grouped by app, thumbnails of your full screen apps and your Dashboard, and allows you to instantly navigate anywhere with a tap.



The Mac App Store is built into Lion and is the best place to discover new Mac apps, buy them with your iTunes account, download and install them. Apps automatically install directly to Launchpad, and with Lion?s release, the Mac App Store will be able to deliver smaller ?delta? app updates and new apps that can take advantage of features like In-App Purchase and Push Notifications.





Launchpad makes it easy to find and launch any app. With a single Multi-Touch gesture, all your Mac apps are displayed in a stunning full screen layout. You can organize apps in any order or into folders and swipe through unlimited pages of apps to find the one you want.



A completely redesigned Mail app with a widescreen layout is also included in Lion. The new Conversations feature groups related messages into an easily scrollable timeline, intelligently hiding repeated text so the conversation is easy to follow, and retaining graphics and attachments as they were originally sent. A new search feature allows you to refine your search and suggests matches by person, subject and label as you type. Mail includes built-in support for Microsoft Exchange 2010.







Additional new features in Lion include:

Resume, which conveniently brings your apps back exactly how you left them when you restart your Mac or quit and relaunch an app;

Auto Save, which automatically and continuously saves your documents as you work;

Versions, which automatically records the history of your document as you create it, and gives you an easy way to browse, revert and even copy and paste from previous versions; and

AirDrop, which finds nearby Macs and automatically sets up a peer-to-peer wireless connection to make transferring files quick and easy.

WWDC Demo



Apple's on-stage demonstrations also included previously highlighted features, such as multi-touch gestures full-screen applications, and Mission Control, Apple's unification of Expose and Spaces.







Users can toggle applications into full-screen with a control in the top right of the menu bar, and swipe between full-screen applications by swiping. Full-screen will be built into Mail, iCal, Preview, iPhoto, Photobooth, iMovie and iTunes.



Schiller also boasted that the Mac App Store has already become the most popular destination for buying computer software. The digital download service has surpassed Best Buy, Walmart and Office Depot.



The Mac App Store will be built into Lion and will offer in-app purchases and push notifications, just like in iOS. Apple is also adding delta updates, which should make it faster to patch software.







Also highlighted Monday were Launchpad, for launching applications from an iOS-style grid of icons, and Resume, which returns a user to where they left off when an application was closed. Lion will also auto-save documents to ensure data is never lost.



Users can also share files with others by using AirDrop. Schiller joked that the new feature is a replacement for "Sneakernet," where users copy files onto a thumb drive and run them over to a friend.



Lion also boasts a completely new version of Mail, which offers two- and three-column views, as well as a favorites bar. New search suggestions will also recognize whether a search item is a person or a subject, and rules can be created based on these searches.







Other features mentioned, but not detailed, include built-in FaceTime, FileVault 2, Windows Migration, Lion Server add-on, Safari Reading list, resize from any edge, Xsan built-in, dictionary lookup smart magnify in Preview, and more.







Pricing and Availability



Mac OS X Lion will be available in July as an upgrade to Mac OS X version 10.6 Snow Leopard from the Mac App Store for $29.99 (US). Lion will be the easiest OS X upgrade and at about 4GB, it is the size of an HD movie from the iTunes Store. Mac OS X Lion Server requires Lion and will be available in July from the Mac App Store for $49.99 (US).



Lion requires an Intel-based Mac with a Core 2 Duo, i3, i5, i7 or Xeon processor and 2GB of RAM. The Lion upgrade can be installed on all your authorized personal Macs.



The Mac OS X Lion Up-To-Date upgrade is available at no additional charge via the Mac App Store to all customers who purchased a qualifying new Mac system from Apple or an Apple Authorized Reseller on or after June 6, 2011. Users must request their Up-To-Date upgrade within 30 days of purchase of their Mac computer. Customers who purchase a qualifying Mac between June 6, 2011 and the date when Lion is available in the Mac App Store will have 30 days from Lion?s official release date to make a request.
«134567

Comments

  • Reply 1 of 139
    iq78iq78 Posts: 256member
    And great price. Apple is doing things right! Again... and again... and again.
  • Reply 2 of 139
    donw35donw35 Posts: 30member
    Quote:
    Originally Posted by IQ78 View Post


    First Post! I win!



    And great price. Apple is doing things right! Again... and again... and again.



    and saves me a trip to the Apple store, all good
  • Reply 3 of 139
    pxtpxt Posts: 683member
    So we'll have to burn our own boot disk/drive ... and then test it !?
  • Reply 4 of 139
    macosxpmacosxp Posts: 152member
    So, a family of Macs with slow internet that occasionally needs to boot into the DVD to fix a problem is basically screwed?



    And if you're coming from Leopard, you have to install Snow Leopard first?
  • Reply 5 of 139
    dualiedualie Posts: 334member
    I still use MacUpdate and probably will for a long time to come. I'm just not a huge fan of the App Store. It just feels too garish to me. I also can't use it at the office, and considering that I spend a 1/3 of my life there that's a significant problem.
  • Reply 6 of 139
    macosxpmacosxp Posts: 152member
    Quote:
    Originally Posted by PXT View Post


    So we'll have to burn our own boot disk/drive ... and then test it !?



    I *hope* we will be able to burn a boot drive. But you know how the App store is with copying programs...
  • Reply 7 of 139
    pxtpxt Posts: 683member
    Quote:
    Originally Posted by macosxp View Post


    I *hope* we will be able to burn a boot drive. But you know how the App store is with copying programs...



    Someone said there's a disk image in the release, so that part should be OK.



    But I wonder how many users will know how to do this. Ask an average user what kind of disk format they should be using for a bootable OSX drive. Ouch !



    Plus: hopefully that disk image will contain all the utilities that are currently not in the standard releases but are included on the disk.
  • Reply 8 of 139
    The app store only works on Snow Leopard. So how exactly do you upgrade to Lion from 10.5 if you can only download Lion from the app store?
  • Reply 9 of 139
    Quote:
    Originally Posted by macosxp View Post


    I *hope* we will be able to burn a boot drive. But you know how the App store is with copying programs...



    After installing Lion, if you start up while holding the Option key, it not only shows you the normally available startup discs (internal, external,...) but also a rescue disc which, I assume, is stashed away inside the Lion install on your normal hard disc and will remain usable even if the normal Lion install is screwed up. At least, that's what I understood.
  • Reply 10 of 139
    minderbinderminderbinder Posts: 1,703member
    Quote:
    Originally Posted by PXT View Post


    So we'll have to burn our own boot disk/drive ... and then test it !?



    I assume it will include one click burn of a bootable DVD or drive (thumb drive would be perfect). And testing it shouldn't be a big deal, just boot from it once to make sure it works. Apple just needs to announce the specifics of how they're handling bootable drives to get this question answered. They already include the functionality for a recovery partition, now they just need to include the option to put it on a separate physical drive as well.



    Quote:
    Originally Posted by macosxp View Post


    So, a family of Macs with slow internet that occasionally needs to boot into the DVD to fix a problem is basically screwed?



    It will take a while to download, but they should include a way to create bootable DVD or thumb drive.
  • Reply 11 of 139
    nagrommenagromme Posts: 2,834member
    Quote:
    Originally Posted by macosxp View Post


    So, a family of Macs with slow internet that occasionally needs to boot into the DVD to fix a problem is basically screwed?



    And if you're coming from Leopard, you have to install Snow Leopard first?



    I?m sure yes?making the price $60 instead of the usual $129.



    Basically, then, it?s like Snow Leopard users getting a super cheap upgrade deal, and everyone else getting a super cheap ?full price? (less than half the usual $129, which was always much cheaper than Windows?we?re spoiled!)



    As for people with slow internet being screwed... yes, if it?s super slow, they may want to either hold off on Lion or go to a library with WiFi. But once they DO download it (a couple overnights?) we have no reason to think they are screwed for problem-solving in future. The details you?re assuming are just not known yet.
  • Reply 12 of 139
    iq78iq78 Posts: 256member
    ... that having it available at the App store for $29 means that it won't be available on DVD for say $49 (or whatever.)



    And for those who are thinking of responding by saying, "I shouldn't have to pay $10 or $20 or whatever more for a DVD" you have it backwards. You are paying $10 or $20 less for NOT getting it on media.



    ... and heck, it might even be available on DVD for the same price... Let's wait and see folks.



    -IQ78
  • Reply 13 of 139
    Quote:
    Originally Posted by nagromme View Post


    I?m sure yes?making the price $60 instead of the usual $129.



    Basically, then, it?s like Snow Leopard users getting a super cheap upgrade deal, and everyone else getting a super cheap ?full price? (less than half the usual $129, which was always much cheaper than Windows?we?re spoiled!)



    As for people with slow internet being screwed... yes, if it?s super slow, they may want to either hold off on Lion or go to a library with WiFi. But once they DO download it (a couple overnights?) we have no reason to think they are screwed for problem-solving in future. The details you?re assuming are just not known yet.



    So how many operating systems will I have to buy and install to upgrade from Tiger?
  • Reply 14 of 139
    tallest skiltallest skil Posts: 43,388member
    Quote:
    Originally Posted by BklynCowpoke View Post


    So how many operating systems will I have to buy and install to upgrade from Tiger?



    Just buy the $29 Snow Leopard disk now, update to 10.6.7 (or .8, whatever you guys are on now; I've run Lion so long I don't even know), and have the App Store.
  • Reply 15 of 139
    o4blackwrxo4blackwrx Posts: 383member
    First, you download it on one computer you can then take the APP and install it on multiple computers via USB Flash drive, AFP, FTP, etc so download 1 time and that's it.



    Second, if you are on Leopard chances are you aren't on Intel so therefore Lion wouldn't work for you anyways since it's Intel only. If you are on Intel and aren't on SL that's a mistake in itself



    Third, as far as booting up there is a recovery volume accessible when you hold down option on startup so no need for additional stuff.



    Before I get myself into anymore trouble talking about this - relax people Apple has thought of everything here so just wait until more info is released to the public before asking a million questions.
  • Reply 16 of 139
    apple ][apple ][ Posts: 9,233member
    I'm here to blow my own horn. Did I get it right or what?



    Last week in a thread here I said that Lion should cost $29.99, especially since it was said to be "aggressively priced" and that's exactly what Snow Leopard cost. Somebody else, some weird person here, they attacked me for writing that and they went on to mumble something about people feeling entitled. Well guess what buddy, you were dead wrong.
  • Reply 17 of 139
    tallest skiltallest skil Posts: 43,388member
    Quote:
    Originally Posted by Apple ][ View Post


    I'm here to blow my own horn. Did I get it right or what?



    Last week in a thread here I said that Lion should cost $29.99, especially since it was said to be "aggressively priced" and that's exactly what Snow Leopard cost. Somebody else, some weird person here, they attacked me for writing that and they went on to mumble something about people feeling entitled. Well guess what buddy, you were dead wrong.



    The guy screaming for a $5 OS was having "entitlement" issues. I'm glad Lion's only $30 for a family license and happy to have been wrong.
  • Reply 18 of 139
    negafoxnegafox Posts: 480member
    Quote:
    Originally Posted by O4BlackWRX View Post


    Second, if you are on Leopard chances are you aren't on Intel so therefore Lion wouldn't work for you anyways since it's Intel only. If you are on Intel and aren't on SL that's a mistake in itself



    Actually, most Mac users I know are still on Leopard under Intel-based systems. Remember that Leopard came out a year and a half after Intel-based Macs.
  • Reply 19 of 139
    dgg32dgg32 Posts: 10member
    I don't think Lion is App Store only. What about those who buy a new mac? They have pre-install Lion and then nothing? So if they want to reinstall the system, they have to go buy a 10.6 DVD then install then upgrade to 10.6.6 and then upgrade to 10.7? What a journey!!!
  • Reply 20 of 139
    tallest skiltallest skil Posts: 43,388member
    Quote:
    Originally Posted by dgg32 View Post


    I don't think Lion is App Store only. What about those who buy a new mac? They have pre-install Lion and then nothing? So if they want to reinstall the system, they have to go buy a 10.6 DVD then install then upgrade to 10.6.6 and then upgrade to 10.7? What a journey!!!



    That's complete nonsense, particularly since Snow Leopard wouldn't work on machines that have Lion preinstalled.



    It would have the backup of Lion already installed on it. You boot to the Recovery Partition to fix any problems.
Sign In or Register to comment.