One of the bigger annoyances about buying an Apple product, especially for those new users, is getting home with your machine, enjoying it for a month, and then finding out you’ve been passed by with some new release or update. We’ve all been there, and it’s probably one of the bigger reasons I started this blog. Over time, Apple has realized that some people walk out of the store with a new iMac or Macbook days before the big release. For quite some time now, Apple has given these users, within reason, free upgrades to the latest software, and sometimes even hardware. It turns out that Lion is no different.
According to Apple, anyone who has purchased a new Mac, starting on June 6, 2011, will be eligible to upgrade from Snow Leopard to Lion free of charge via the Mac App Store. Users will have 30 days to request an upgrade from the day that Lion ships to the masses.
Previously, as with most Apple software, these types of updates would also come with a small fee ($9.95), which was used to pay for the disc and shipping of the DVD. I once was lucky enough to get in on a similar iLife update, and it also had the $9.95 update fee attached to it. However, these fees are now being waved, and users can download the updates, for free, on the Mac App Store.
So don’t fret. If you just walked in the door with a shiney new iMac, and opened up Safari, then saw a giant Lion logo on your home page, Apple’s got your back. You’ll able to upgrade for free once Lion ships.
We’ll be sure to remind you to upgrade once that happens.
