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Apple to Sell Lion on USB Thumb Drive Starting in August for $69
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This is great for those who have Leopard or anything older. Expensive though, but since those people didn't upgrade to Snow Leopard anyway, they won't mind (although it's stupid that they will have to pay extra just because they didn't pay for Snow Leopard, sounds like a waste of money, they could have just upgraded to Snow Leopard for the same total price).
that price makes sense given their strategy. They want you to buy snow leopard for 29 to get lion, so obviously they aren't going to provide a way around that at the same price as lion. 29 for SL + 29 for Lion + 11 for the USB=69 dollars
Because SL is required in order to upgrade to Lion. I'm guessing a lot of folks have already gone out and purchased SL ($30) just so they could download Lion (another $30).
If Apple would only charge $30 for this it wouldn't be fair as Apple said you needed Snow Leopard first. And of course the extra $9 surcharge is for the USB stick.
Makes perfect sense to me. I'm just glad they offer this option as SL won't be available anymore.
I wonder if the USB drive will be the same physically as the one that shipped with MacBook Airs a while back.
I think this might have a bigger market as a collector's item than as a useful device.
Further, if you can go to an Apple Store and get Lion from there, will they also take you through putting it on your own USB drive?
I think this might have a bigger market as a collector's item than as a useful device.
Further, if you can go to an Apple Store and get Lion from there, will they also take you through putting it on your own USB drive?
This is good news though, it means I don't have to use the MAS, something I was dreading on doing. Apple wants to force relevance for that crud and I want none of it. I'll gladly pay 70$ for a USB version.
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Perfect for those on a bandwidth budget
Yeah woo hoo. Welcome to the future!
Where if you are in an area with sh tty broadband speeds and providers Apple will do you the favor of selling you a $5 USB drive for $40 when previously a DVD would have cost you nothing.
Thanks Apple!
Steve's personal gigabit line to his house has made him forget what the rest of the country has to put up with.
Exactly my feelings too. I'm happy to pay that amount of money to have that option. I'm in no hurry to get Lion anyway. By the time these become available in central Europe all the ".0" bugs and problems will hopefully be taken care of.
The less people use the MAS, the better, or Apple might like the idea of making it the only way of getting Mac programs.
As I see it, $69 is not a markup. It’s a discount--from Apple’s historical $129 OS cost (which in turn has long been cheaper than Windows).
It is, however, less of a discount than downloaders get. Apple’s giving a really BIG discount to Lion downloaders. The same discount on this major release that they gave everyone for the Snow Leopard minor release. (Really—this release is a big leap, although I won’t be an early adopter myself. This is more than $69 of advancement by any measure!)
Why give App Store downloaders such a discount? Because as much as Apple wants to encourage Lion adoption, they also want to encourage Mac App Store adoption. Makes sense to me!
(And I also agree that Apple should make creating a DVD version simpler—that’s a useful, cheap option, and not one that would hinder App Store usage, because in fact it makes your App Store download more useful.)
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I assume this means that SL will be discontinued in August then. what is the return policy on SL?
"In Apple's press release for OS X Lion, the company revealed that they will be selling OS X Lion on USB Flash Drive as well starting in August:"
Well, so much for those folks who said that Lion would NEVER be available except through an Apple Store download.
And exactly as I predicted in an earlier posting right here on MRC:
=====
"100% and there will never be a DVD available. For sure."
I wouldn't be so sure.
By making Lion "downloadable only from the Apple Store", Apple is trying to "bend the market" into a new shape that conforms to what _they_ (Apple) think it should be.
The "market" doesn't work that way. Instead -- like Adam Smith's "invisible hand" -- the market works to satisfy itself.
Apple is going to discover that their distribution model, while attractive to some, will cause problems for others.
I predict Lion's sales will be brisk at the beginning (due to downloads from folks who are capable of obtaining it that way), but will quickly taper off. There's a large share of "potential buyers" out there who simply won't have the means to get ahold of it.
I predict that when the idealist marketing guys at Apple (including Mr. Jobs himself) finally perceive this, they will relent and offer a "hard copy" purchase option of Lion at "extra cost". It's reasonable that a hard copy version should cost more, due to the extra expenses of manufacturing and distribution. $40-50 might be what it sells for.
Wait and see!
Source:
https://forums.macrumors.com/posts/12799318/
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A bit higher than the "price point" I predicted (guess the base cost of the hardware flash drive has to be worked into that, as well).
But - true to my prediction - a "hard copy" version of Lion _WILL_ definitely be made available from Apple.
Not sure about a DVD release. Probably not needed since every Mac that is going to use Lion also has a USB port available (and can boot from the USB port, as well).
As I predicted, Apple has come to realize that they cannot "bend the market" solely to suit their whims. That's why we're seeing Lion "in the hard copy".
They might even relent and release it on DVD...
Well, so much for those folks who said that Lion would NEVER be available except through an Apple Store download.
And exactly as I predicted in an earlier posting right here on MRC:
=====
"100% and there will never be a DVD available. For sure."
I wouldn't be so sure.
By making Lion "downloadable only from the Apple Store", Apple is trying to "bend the market" into a new shape that conforms to what _they_ (Apple) think it should be.
The "market" doesn't work that way. Instead -- like Adam Smith's "invisible hand" -- the market works to satisfy itself.
Apple is going to discover that their distribution model, while attractive to some, will cause problems for others.
I predict Lion's sales will be brisk at the beginning (due to downloads from folks who are capable of obtaining it that way), but will quickly taper off. There's a large share of "potential buyers" out there who simply won't have the means to get ahold of it.
I predict that when the idealist marketing guys at Apple (including Mr. Jobs himself) finally perceive this, they will relent and offer a "hard copy" purchase option of Lion at "extra cost". It's reasonable that a hard copy version should cost more, due to the extra expenses of manufacturing and distribution. $40-50 might be what it sells for.
Wait and see!
Source:
https://forums.macrumors.com/posts/12799318/
=====
A bit higher than the "price point" I predicted (guess the base cost of the hardware flash drive has to be worked into that, as well).
But - true to my prediction - a "hard copy" version of Lion _WILL_ definitely be made available from Apple.
Not sure about a DVD release. Probably not needed since every Mac that is going to use Lion also has a USB port available (and can boot from the USB port, as well).
As I predicted, Apple has come to realize that they cannot "bend the market" solely to suit their whims. That's why we're seeing Lion "in the hard copy".
They might even relent and release it on DVD...
Forgive my ignorance on this but -
I have 10.6.6 installed, let's say I buy & download Lion. At some point my hard drive fails, and I need to re-install. Does it require 10.6 to be installed for me to reinstall Lion, or is it a case of I should have 10.6 installed, but it's not enforced?
If it's the former, I'd rather not have to keep a backup of Lion around, AND my Snow Leopard DVD.
I have 10.6.6 installed, let's say I buy & download Lion. At some point my hard drive fails, and I need to re-install. Does it require 10.6 to be installed for me to reinstall Lion, or is it a case of I should have 10.6 installed, but it's not enforced?
If it's the former, I'd rather not have to keep a backup of Lion around, AND my Snow Leopard DVD.
haha you said it best, and right you are.
I mean apple is trying to save money and avoid physical stuff. but hey this is a really cool futuristic way to do it, and awesome. They should be clever about it though and make it like
shaped USB's!!!!Is this a good deal?
My wife has a circa 2009 white Macbook with 2 GB RAM and the stock hard drive and Leopard. I was going to do the OWC thing and boost RAM and the hard drive and upgrade to Lion. Is this thumb drive a better deal than doing the two step SL - Lion? Atleast this way I have a boot disk, right?
My wife has a circa 2009 white Macbook with 2 GB RAM and the stock hard drive and Leopard. I was going to do the OWC thing and boost RAM and the hard drive and upgrade to Lion. Is this thumb drive a better deal than doing the two step SL - Lion? Atleast this way I have a boot disk, right?
thats a good question but i doubt you would need snow leopard CD if you have a back up CD or USB of Lion. This is why.
Apples newest computers come with lion stock. It would take too much time for them to have to install one OS and then the next, so i'm pretty sure they had it in mind that they would have to allow to install Lion from a blank hard drive.
Thats what i'm guessing, I could be wrong, but it makes some sense.
There is no family pack. Instead you can install onto all the Macs authorized on your account (at least up to 5 anyway).
Sorry but I don't see it like that at all. Lion costs $30. That's the base price. Yes that's cheaper than old versions but that's still the base price of Lion. You can't call it a discount because previous versions were more expensive.
Nothing wrong with download only OSes. That's how I've been installing my OSes for the best part of the last 15 years. Either by downloading an ISO or by downloading a floppy image that would download the OS through HTTP/FTP/NFS.
The problem is the MAS, its policies and requirements. I don't want to "register an account with a CC that can then be used at all times to easily purchase stuff with 1 click".
