A listing for the latest version of the Mac operating system, OS X 10.7 Lion, which is due for release this summer, has appeared on the German Amazon website. The significance of the listing is that the OS is apparently being offered on DVD, rather than on the USB thumb drive, upon which Apple had begun to offer the Snow Leopard OS with the purchase of the new MacBook Air models last year.
Obviously, the new MacBook Air did not come with a DVD drive as standard which is likely why Apple supplied USB sticks from which users could restore their operating system. Given this approach, it had been suggested that Apple could move to this format for all new Macs, but it appears that, at least for now, the company will be supplying the new OS on DVD. It is also likely that USB thumb drives will be made available to enable users with the new MacBook Air or the Mac mini server to install Lion on their devices.
Apple has recently offered pre-release builds of 10.7 Lion to registered members of their Mac Developer program, and these builds have been made available through the Mac App Store. It is not clear at this stage if Apple was simply using the App Store as a convenient method of delivery or if the developer releases were, in fact, test runs for the distribution of the new operating system to existing Snow Leopard users through the Mac App Store.
Unfortunately, the Amazon listing does not appear to show either a release date or a price for the new OS, simply that it will be supplied on DVD. However, users can register to receive an e-mail update when it is made available.
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