A small bit of news that we managed to overlook during posting all of that new Mac, Thunderbolt Display, and Lion goodness this morning was that Apple hasn’t completely overlooked those poor souls who can’t afford to download Lion over the Internet and don’t have an Apple Store within an affordable distance.
According to some fine print in Apple’s press release (we were too busy looking for specs), the company plans on releasing Lion on USB sticks in August. The cost of the OS will be slightly more expensive, likely due to the extra cost of the hardware, weighing in at $69.00 instead of the $29.99 price on the App Store.
It’s unfortunate that people needing a USB stick have to wait, but considering the numbers, we doubt they’re in the majority. Apple’s working hard at changing the perception that backups and installation files need to be on physical media. It makes sense that they’re delaying. Heck, it could be an interesting little experiment to determine whether the world is ready for cloud installations, or if they’re still clinging to disc based installations.
For those who want to create a bootable Lion drive, we have two options for you:
First, you can create your own USB boot disc.
Second, you can re-purpose the MacBook Airs USB drive.
Hope that helps at least some of you!
Happy Lion Day!
