Nuance voice packs are now downloadable through Mac OS X 10.7 Lion, while Snow Leopard is now showing a considerable delay in shipping time in some areas, Softpedia has learned.
The first solid indication that Apple is preparing Lion for Gold Master and, therefore, public release, comes from developers who are telling us that licensed voice recognition software is fully usable - testers can now download Nuance’s voice packs for various languages and accents.
Previously, Apple’s Lion Developer Preview 3 only showed evidence of Nuance technology, but did not allow testers to download any voice content.
The second piece of evidence indicating Lion’s fast approach is a delay in shipping for Apple’s Mac OS X 10.6 Snow Leopard operating system.
At least in Australia, where the Apple Store 2.0 launched first, shipping time has extended from 24 hours to 5-7 business days. The change is undoubtedly caused by some form of constraint.
Apple is known to list longer shipping times for the products it is upgrading or replacing altogether, though others stores still show the 24h availability.
The company’s annual Worldwide Developers Conference is scheduled to kick off with a keynote address June 6 with a focus on “ the future of iOS and Mac OS.”
It is believed that WWDC 2011 will be the time and place for Apple’s final OS X Lion unveiling, though it is unclear whether the software will be prepped and ready for shipping by then.
The best guess is that Apple will have an almost-final, polished version of OS X 10.7 in the form of a Gold Master build around June 6.
General availability usually follows soon after developers have been seeded a GM of OS X, but Apple’s development cycles are somewhat unpredictable at times, making it difficult to pinpoint a release date for Lion, as it stands.
It is also believed that Lion, unlike Snow Leopard, will also come as a download through Apple’s Mac App Store, in addition to retail (disc) copies.
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