Rumor: Tuesday Retail Overnight Equals Wednesday Launch For Lion?
Posted 07/19/2011 at 5:31am
| by J.R. Bookwalter
We know, we know: You’re sick of waiting for OS X Lion and tired of hearing false rumors about its imminent arrival. But bear with us, because Wednesday is looking like a likely day for its release, if rumors of some new visual merchandising at Apple retail stores around the world are to believed.
9to5Mac is reporting that “multiple retail sources across the world” have reported some employee activity planned for Tuesday night at Apple Stores, with the most likely event being some signage and displays for OS X Lion. Apple has promised the new Mac OS X operating system release for July, but has remained mum on details other than it will be sold exclusively on the Mac App Store for $29.95 as an approximate 4GB download.
“In the employee halls of the retail chain sit large tubes that hold new posters for both front of store posters and posters within the store,” the report reveals. “Additionally, we’re hearing that each store has been sent a Lion-packing Mac Pro for an unknown purpose. As previously reported, LaCie hard drives loaded with the GM seed of Lion image are ready to be connected as installers on the Macs throughout the showroom floor.”
It’s widely believed that Apple may also introduce refreshed MacBook Air models with Sandy Bridge processors, Thunderbolt I/O and backlit keyboard at the same time as OS X Lion, but 9to5Mac notes, “nothing from the retail channels confirms this timing.”
Last week, AllThingsD reported that the rumor websites were off by a week and that new MacBook Air models would be arriving by Thursday or Friday of this week. With Apple releasing their quarterly financials on Tuesday, it would be a good time to at least offer up a firm date for OS X Lion -- and new Macs preinstalled with the big cat will surely follow.
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(Image courtesy of 9to5Mac)