Moles say Mac OS X Lion to bound in next week

Mac OS X 10.7 Lion will go on sale next Thursday, 14 July, it has been claimed.

With paid-up developers now able to download Lion's first Golden Master (GM) seed, a variety of sites - among them 9to5 Mac and AppleInsider - are quoting retail moles who say staff are being kept in work late on the 13th, presumably to kit out the store with branding and swot up on the new OS.

GM means Apple reckons the software is good to go, pending some last-minute checking.

And since Lion - check out The Register's preview - will be delivered through the Mac OS App Store, Apple doesn't have to face the usual wait between going GM and getting all those discs duplicated, packaged and shipped out.

Rumours have it that upgraded MacBook Airs - long expected but still a no-show - will finally debut after Lion arrives, possibly even on the same day, given the previous evening's retail activity - which a download-only product may not warrant on its own. ®