14 DAY TRIAL // OS X Lion will be available for download today, Wednesday, July 20, from the Mac App Store for $29.99, Apple Chief Operating Office Peter Oppenheimer has confirmed.
Marking the first time a quarterly earnings call is used to announce a future product release, yesterday’s Q3 2011 session saw Apple’s CFO confirm the launch date for Mac OS X 10.7 Lion - Wednesday, July 20, 2011.
Right now, the Mac App Store still doesn’t show availability of the new OS.
When it does launch, Snow Leopard users will be able to immediately download the software for $29.99 and install it over their current Mac OS version without fear of losing any valuable documents and settings.
Apple had previously confirmed that Mac OS X Lion would be available in July as an upgrade to Mac OS X version 10.6 Snow Leopard from the Mac App Store, but did not specify an exact launch date.
Apple’s June announcement spurred a flurry of speculative reports that proposed various release dates. July 20 has, in fact, been the least rumored of them all.
“Lion will be the easiest OS X upgrade and at about 4GB, it is the size of an HD movie from the iTunes Store,” Apple said in June.
The Cupertino computer giant had also confirmed that Mac OS X Lion Server would require Lion and that it would also be available in July from the Mac App Store. The price for the server version of Lion is $49.99.
OS X Lion requires an Intel-based Mac with a Core 2 Duo, i3, i5, i7 or Xeon processor and 2GB of RAM.
Those who purchased a new Mac on or after June 6, 2011 are eligible for a free upgrade. The offer is live 30 days from Lion’s release in the Mac App Store, and customers must manually apply for their eligibility.