Mac OS X Lion will be available on USB thumb drive for $69 in August
For those who want to have their copy of Lion saved on a physical medium, Apple will make the Mac OS X upgrade available on a USB thumb drive through its online store in August, but at a cost more than twice the price of the Mac App Store.
Apple revealed on Wednesday that Lion will be available on a USB thumb drive through its online store "later this August." It will carry a price of $69, or more than twice the $29.99 cost of downloading Lion from the Mac App Store.
For users who do not have broadband access at home, work or school, Apple is also offering customers the ability to download the multi-gigabyte install at its retail stores immediately.
AppleInsider was first to report in May that Apple planned to release Lion through the Mac App Store, but also that Apple would offer a physical copy of the operating system for those who would prefer to have one. And in June, an exclusive report suggested lower pricing for Lion could be tied to purchasing through the Mac App Store.
For those who opt to download Lion, it carries the same aggressive price strategy that Apple chose for Snow Leopard. The low $29 price for upgrades proved to have great success, doubling Apple's previous records.
Those who opt to buy a new Mac won't need to worry about downloading Lion from the Mac App Store, as all new computers sold by Apple will come preinstalled with the next-generation operating system. That includes already released devices, like the latest MacBook Pro and iMac, as well as Wednesday's newly released hardware: MacBook Airs and Mac minis.
Apple revealed on Wednesday that Lion will be available on a USB thumb drive through its online store "later this August." It will carry a price of $69, or more than twice the $29.99 cost of downloading Lion from the Mac App Store.
For users who do not have broadband access at home, work or school, Apple is also offering customers the ability to download the multi-gigabyte install at its retail stores immediately.
AppleInsider was first to report in May that Apple planned to release Lion through the Mac App Store, but also that Apple would offer a physical copy of the operating system for those who would prefer to have one. And in June, an exclusive report suggested lower pricing for Lion could be tied to purchasing through the Mac App Store.
For those who opt to download Lion, it carries the same aggressive price strategy that Apple chose for Snow Leopard. The low $29 price for upgrades proved to have great success, doubling Apple's previous records.
Those who opt to buy a new Mac won't need to worry about downloading Lion from the Mac App Store, as all new computers sold by Apple will come preinstalled with the next-generation operating system. That includes already released devices, like the latest MacBook Pro and iMac, as well as Wednesday's newly released hardware: MacBook Airs and Mac minis.
Comments
PS: You can make a bootable backup of Lion from the App Store that can be copied to any medium, including DVD, very easily with Disk Utility.
Considering that they have to buy the drives, install the data, package them and then ship them to the Apple Store I think the pricing is fair, certainly far cheaper than Windows.
Makes total sense, a shame that Apple decided to release this in August. Either thorugh deliberate planning or ineptitude on their part.
Considering that they have to buy the drives, install the data, package them and then ship them to the Apple Store I think the pricing is fair, certainly far cheaper than Windows.
Considering that I recently bought a high quality and fast 8GB USb drive to do this very thing for $15, I do think the cost is a bit high. I'm sure Apple would get the same drive for less than half of what I paid, and a slower drive for a quarter as much. I don't as yet even know if 8GB is overkill. If a 4GB drive is enough, it could cost them a couple of bucks, as 4GB drives are given away at the MicroCenters for gifts.
I was suggesting they do this, and at a higher price. But I thought $49 would be more appropriate. This is unexpectedly high.
Aggravation charge. Apple doesn't really want to do this, but realizes that it needs to for some customers.
I was suggesting they do this, and at a higher price. But I thought $49 would be more appropriate. This is unexpectedly high.
It is a little more than what you pay for Snow Leopard + Lion since you need SL to upgrade. I expected they do that. Otherwise, they will have to keep selling Snow Leopard.
Anyone know how the licensing works? i.e. can I use the same copy and install it on everyone's machine as long as I've gone through the purchase process on the MAS? Or is there a key of sorts directly on the image? I'm not looking to snag a free copy, only looking to save my bandwidth. Torrents and online activations can make things a lot faster.. Just saying.
It's only a matter of hours before you see it sold on ebay for a lot cheaper.
Anyone know how the licensing works? i.e. can I use the same copy and install it on everyone's machine as long as I've gone through the purchase process on the MAS? Or is there a key of sorts directly on the image? I'm not looking to snag a free copy, only looking to save my bandwidth. Torrents and online activations can make things a lot faster.. Just saying.
Torrents won't save you bandwidth. Just buy it and let it download overnight, then make your backup copy. Why spend effort trying to find a Torrent where who knows if it has been laced with malware, etc.
Makes total sense, a shame that Apple decided to release this in August. Either thorugh deliberate planning or ineptitude on their part.
The GM build was only qualified in the past few days, not weeks. August is only a couple of weeks away. I'd rather they not hold up the release for everyone just to have the USB key available on launch day.
I don't as yet even know if 8GB is overkill. If a 4GB drive is enough, it could cost them a couple of bucks, as 4GB drives are given away at the MicroCenters for gifts.
As previously noted it does I stall onto 4GB partition.
Aggravation charge. Apple doesn't really want to do this, but realizes that it needs to for some customers.
That's how I see the $40 charge.
It's only a matter of hours before you see it sold on ebay for a lot cheaper.
Anyone know how the licensing works? i.e. can I use the same copy and install it on everyone's machine as long as I've gone through the purchase process on the MAS? Or is there a key of sorts directly on the image? I'm not looking to snag a free copy, only looking to save my bandwidth. Torrents and online activations can make things a lot faster.. Just saying.
No key and as noted it's simple to create a bootable installer of Lion from the download.
I was suggesting they do this, and at a higher price. But I thought $49 would be more appropriate. This is unexpectedly high.
$69 covers the $29 for Lion, the $29 for Snow Leopard and $9 for the actual drive.
This is intended more for those that never updated to Snow Leopard and would be screwed cause Apple's SOP is to yank the old OS disks when the new one is out (just like they do with older application software). So by August (which is really just in two weeks) they will have sold out of all the SL that is around if it's not gone already.
Since the intended audience never bought Snow Leopard they want that licensing money.
It's only a matter of hours before you see it sold on ebay for a lot cheaper.
Anyone know how the licensing works? i.e. can I use the same copy and install it on everyone's machine as long as I've gone through the purchase process on the MAS? Or is there a key of sorts directly on the image? I'm not looking to snag a free copy, only looking to save my bandwidth. Torrents and online activations can make things a lot faster.. Just saying.
Actually, it does sound like you're trying to snag a free copy-- explain to me how downloading via torrent saves bandwidth over the App Store?
And, I've just downloaded it, the download completely saturated my broadband to the point where I had trouble surfing on my other computer. So there's no way a torrent would be any faster.
The $29 price tag is for Mac App Store which is only for Snow Leopard.
That means, $29 is an upgrade-from-SnowLeopard price for Snow Leopard users. Snow Leopard is $25.
So, the retail box will be $69 because it contains the retail license not the upgrade-from-SnowLeopard license, and 8GB USB drive cost and etc.. (Lion does not fit into 4GB drive because it's 4.3GB)
Before this statement, Tiger or Leopard users had to buy Snow Leopard for $25 first, and then get Lion for another $29. Now, they can buy Lion USB drive for $69 instead.
Lion does not fit into 4GB drive because it's 4.3GB.
Matbe the final release is larger but I put one beta on flash drive and it came in at 3.7GB.
Actually, it does sound like you're trying to snag a free copy-- explain to me how downloading via torrent saves bandwidth over the App Store?
And, I've just downloaded it, the download completely saturated my broadband to the point where I had trouble surfing on my other computer. So there's no way a torrent would be any faster.
Apple keeps track of purchases, so I can buy it through their online store, but just not download at that time. Then Apple can provide the torrent file and download would come from apple and/or peers, alleviating the connection directly to Apple. Anyone who doesn't understand this lives in California and gets their broadband with negligible waiting times. The rest of us, possibly on dial-up have issues. Apple is pushing digital downloads, and I'm all for that, including purchasing and tracking, but if they own content but not delivery, they can't ensure QoS.
Torrents won't save you bandwidth. Just buy it and let it download overnight, then make your backup copy. Why spend effort trying to find a Torrent where who knows if it has been laced with malware, etc.
Actually I might just have to opt to go to the store. My d/l limits might explode and I might be forced to be charged insurance rates.