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Apple may freeze new Mac releases until Lion ships

by Michael Grothaus Jun 16th 2011 at 5:00PM

Apple is rumored to be halting any new Mac releases until Lion ships in July, according to a report heard by AppleInsider. Sources for that site say that Apple management is so excited about the improvements and user experience Lion offers, they don't want to ship any new Macs until Lion is finalized, so that "buyers are afforded the latest and greatest Apple experience."

Apple apparently has new MacBook Airs ready to ship, but is waiting until it can load a gold-master version of Lion on them to do so. Also, while there are no hard rumors surrounding the next Mac mini and LED Cinema Display, apparently those rollouts are also waiting for the final release of Lion, which is supposed to come out sometime next month.

And the Mac isn't the only platform waiting for new software -- apparently new iOS devices are also waiting to ship until iOS 5 is finalized. Apple wants to make sure all iCloud services are up and running so that new iPhone owners can take advantage of the full services iOS 5 and iCloud will offer.



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Apple is rumored to be halting any new Mac releases until Lion ships in July, according to a report heard by AppleInsider. Sources for...
 

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AppleGoogle8789

That makes a whole ton of sense, given that Lion is (hopefully) just a month away. The only reason why a new Mac would be announced now it that it would be released with Lion (with a couple of weeks of waiting, rather unlikely). They wouldn't release a new Mac now only to have it be upgraded to Lion just a couple of weeks later.

June 19 2011 at 5:59 PM Report abuse rate up rate down Reply
groberts1980

That makes no sense. I mean I get that they want new Macs to ship with Lion, but they're offering free upgrades to Lion for any Mac sold after June 6th. I just bought an iMac that will get a free copy next month and I'm not complaining. Why would they want to hurt sales numbers like this?

June 17 2011 at 8:22 AM Report abuse rate up rate down Reply
Jessie Scherbain

I hope not. Was hoping for a mac mini refresh shipping with Snow Leopard as I'm considering buying one and I'm not too excited about what I've seen of Lion thus far.. I've heard its nearly impossible to downgrade a Mac to anything older than what it has shipped with...

June 17 2011 at 12:58 AM Report abuse rate up rate down Reply
Jon

My mbp from '08 just meowed its last meow a couple of weeks back, but with an iPad as primary, I am really looking forward to getting my hands on one of those minis. Hello tv-screen mini:D

June 16 2011 at 9:32 PM Report abuse rate up rate down Reply
spiffulus

Well, they're definitely right to hold back the cinema displays.

June 16 2011 at 9:19 PM Report abuse rate up rate down Reply
alansky

Sounds like a silly rumor but, if true, Apple may be holding up those new hardware releases for longer than they think. The latest developer build of OS X Lion still looks far from ready for primetime.

June 16 2011 at 6:16 PM Report abuse rate up rate down Reply
1 reply to alansky's comment
krtjm879

What are you talking about? Apple says it will be out next month. I'm using the developer build right now and it seems very stable.

June 16 2011 at 6:57 PM Report abuse rate up rate down Reply
1 reply to krtjm879's comment
Jasoco

It is very stable. It's the third party apps that need to be updated, and I assume as we get closer to release the updates will start pouring in. The OS by itself is super stable in its latest DP4 with update version. So stable that I am actually tempted to switch to it full time like I did with Snow Leopard and Panther.

June 16 2011 at 7:13 PM Report abuse rate up rate down
deviladv

That is the most ridiculous rumor I've ever heard. It's got to be false, and reposting it here is irresponsible to me.

Apple already has a program where customers can get 10.7 if they buy a mac between now and shipping. And no businessman would be so galactically stupid. Oh yeah, I don't want your money because I want you to see what's coming next month that's so cool! So come back in a month! Really? Tell Dell to stop shipping for a month and see how many executives faint dead away.

Get this silly article off your website.

June 16 2011 at 6:03 PM Report abuse rate up rate down Reply
3 replies to deviladv's comment
amiga_tone

Maybe they should realise it's not just the operating system people are waiting on but the CPU improvements, battery improvements, thunderbolt port....

Seriously, I don't care about having to upgrade just get the damn new MacBook Airs out already!!!!

June 16 2011 at 5:34 PM Report abuse rate up rate down Reply
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