Apple retail clues hint products June 7, Lion June 14
updated 10:15 am EDT, Sun June 5, 2011
Apple may have two launches June 7 and 14
Two clues Sunday morning have hinted that Apple may have two product or feature launches in the aftermath of WWDC. The company is expected by a source to have a major "visual update" on June 7 that would include both the usual changes as well as a window change, usually a clue as to a major new campaign. Speculation from 9to5 is that it may represent the start of the back to school sale, although it could also be new AirPort and Time Capsule routers.
Mac OS X Lion could follow soon after, according to tips. Stores are poised to downplay the full software catalog that day, suggesting that it might be pulling Snow Leopard stock. The release would be a surprise that Apple last gave testers Developer Preview 3 over three weeks ago, though Apple had a relatively fast launch for Snow Leopard as well. A direct upgrade to Lion will be available through the Mac App Store this year and would save Apple the trouble of waiting until retail discs could be manufactured and shipped.
Regardless of actual launch plans, Apple is generally assumed to be giving developers a final preview of Lion at WWDC on June 6 before it reaches users. Most of its features are already known, although Apple is known to have hidden references to iCloud under its Castle codename.
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Joined: Feb 2009
makes sense
That they would perhaps allow for downloading Lion before you could even buy it on a disc.
It's certainly the way that *all* media should go if they want to stop Piracy. So many pirate downloads are made simply because the media moguls want to put out the theatre movie or the disc first, not realising that lots of people don't care about either anymore.
Maybe Jobs is making a point of showing that this is the way future retail should be.