14 DAY TRIAL // Apple appears to have leaked the OS X Lion release date to a customer inquiring about his eligibility of a free upgrade to the new OS.
The person in question is the buyer of a refurbished Macintosh which, most likely runs Snow Leopard, Apple’s current OS.
Wondering whether or not his purchase also falls under the rules of the free upgrade program announced by Apple for new Mac purchases, he contacted Apple’s help desk.
[admark=1]According to BENM.AT (translated from German to English via Gadgetsteria), this was the answer this person got:
“Thank you for your mail. I am unfortunately only now to respond. Entitled to a free upgrade, you do not have. This upgrade can be purchased for € 23.99 from 07/06/2011 in the APP Store.” Unfortunately, the veracity of the email cannot be verified.
Apple has long confirmed that Mac OS X Lion would launch in July as an upgrade to Mac OS X version 10.6 dubbed Snow Leopard.
The company said customers would be able to download the new OS from the Mac App Store, which is compatible with OS X versions 10.6.6 and above, and that the upgrade was priced at $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,” the company said on June 6th - the day WWDC 2011 kicked off with a keynote address by Steve Jobs and his fellow Apple execs.
In the same press release, Apple confirmed the availability of a Mac OS X Lion Up-To-Date upgrade program at no additional charge to all customers who purchased a ‘qualifying’ new Mac from Apple or an Apple Authorized Reseller on or after June 6, 2011.
Sadly, for customers like the person quoted a few paragraphs above, refurbs do not qualify for the free upgrade to Lion.
Additionally, Apple does not contact the customer for the free upgrade. Instead, the user must request their Up-To-Date upgrade within 30 days of purchase of their new Mac.