Maybe I'm trying to manage my own expectations, but I can think of one reason Apple would pre-announce a specific date for Lion: Media Coverage.
I don't expect Apple to announce the release date by much more than a week. That would give the media a chance to publicize the event. I
'd even go so far as to say that a surprisingly large number of Apple users have no idea that Lion is coming out this month, much less at all. So the media hype is pretty much essential to get the word out.
I can understand the idea that Apple would want to release this without a lot of publicity to ease the strain on the App Store...but seriously - have you ever known Apple to do a silent release of an operating system? Much less one that the rumors say they are really excited about internally?
Furthermore, I don't think Apple would have announced that Lion will be available on the Mac App Store without having a contingency plan to account for the additional server load. They know that would result in some very negative publicity.*
I'm not expecting Lion tomorrow. However, I wouldn't be surprised to see an announcement of a release date tomorrow - that could account for the store reset that is allegedly occurring tonight.
*I'm certainly not saying that there won't be problems. I can easily see a statement from Apple: "We underestimated the demand..."
Oh - and the App Store is down for me, too.
I don't expect Apple to announce the release date by much more than a week. That would give the media a chance to publicize the event. I
'd even go so far as to say that a surprisingly large number of Apple users have no idea that Lion is coming out this month, much less at all. So the media hype is pretty much essential to get the word out.
I can understand the idea that Apple would want to release this without a lot of publicity to ease the strain on the App Store...but seriously - have you ever known Apple to do a silent release of an operating system? Much less one that the rumors say they are really excited about internally?
Furthermore, I don't think Apple would have announced that Lion will be available on the Mac App Store without having a contingency plan to account for the additional server load. They know that would result in some very negative publicity.*
I'm not expecting Lion tomorrow. However, I wouldn't be surprised to see an announcement of a release date tomorrow - that could account for the store reset that is allegedly occurring tonight.
*I'm certainly not saying that there won't be problems. I can easily see a statement from Apple: "We underestimated the demand..."
Oh - and the App Store is down for me, too.
