Apple Starts Selling $69 OS X Lion USB Thumb Drive

Apple has started selling the OS X Lion USB Thumb Drive, intended for users without a broadband connection.

lion
As noted by 9to5Mac, the USB thumb drive is available for sale on Apple's online store for $69.00. Apple had pre-announced that they would be selling the USB stick back in July. The USB stick offers the full OS X Lion installation without any need to download it over the internet:

OS X Lion is available on a USB thumb drive for installation without the need for a broadband Internet connection. Just plug the drive into your USB port and follow the instructions to install. OS X Lion is also available for a lower price as a digital download from the Mac App Store.

Earlier this month, Apple released a downloadable utility that would let users create a Lion recovery partition. That partition, however, still required you to download Lion from Apple's servers.

At $69.00, this USB option costs $39.01 more than the corresponding digital version through the Mac App Store. OS X Lion also remains available on the Mac App Store for $29.99.

Top Rated Comments

ChazUK Avatar
166 months ago
Sorry Apple but this has to be the biggest joke ever. £55 for a thumb drive with lion on it!
Still cheaper than Windows on a DVD.
Score: 31 Votes (Like | Disagree)
Lex Yu Avatar
166 months ago
Don't you get it?

This IS NOT about the flash drive price. This is about the LICENSE!!

Downloadable Lion is $29 but requires Mac App Store which requires Snow Leopard which is another $29.

So, the total expense to get the downloadable Lion is $58 not $29.

This USB stick, however, DOES NOT require Mac App Store nor Snow Leopard; Tiger or Leopard users can install Lion through this USB stick, without purchasing Snow Leopard.

So, it's not $29 vs. $69 but $58 vs. $69. The USB Stick with an Apple logo on it costs only $11, and it ships for FREE.

Think, folks. THINK!!
Score: 29 Votes (Like | Disagree)
World Citizen Avatar
166 months ago
Guys,

this is just a normal price...

Keep in mind there has to be employees selling it, and an distribution channel.. Cost to create and design it, the box, License .. etc etc...

AND they have to ship it...

Remove to cost of Lion an you come close to what it should cost...

Come on guys keep it real!!!!
Score: 20 Votes (Like | Disagree)
hamshi Avatar
166 months ago
why usb and not on DVD?

because Apple have been on a mission to kill the optical drive for over a decade
Score: 16 Votes (Like | Disagree)
hamshi Avatar
166 months ago
No clue why they are selling it for so much, but at least they give users an option to make their own install off of their own thumb drive for free.
there selling it for so much because this is primarily aimed at Leopard users who before this needed to upgrade to Snow Leopard (~$35) then buy Lion of the AppStore. For those select few this has been the only way since about 2 weeks before Lion was launched

Can this drive be erased to be used as an empty drive?
this question has been around for a while with the macbook air USB's. ive always wanted to do it but apparently they have almost no, or none at all, writing capability. maybe these will be different but its unlikely
Score: 16 Votes (Like | Disagree)
brandscill Avatar
166 months ago
Sorry Apple but this has to be the biggest joke ever. £55 for a thumb drive with lion on it!
Score: 14 Votes (Like | Disagree)

Popular Stories

maxresdefault

Apple Announces 'Let Loose' Event on May 7 Amid Rumors of New iPads

Tuesday April 23, 2024 7:11 am PDT by
Apple has announced it will be holding a special event on Tuesday, May 7 at 7 a.m. Pacific Time (10 a.m. Eastern Time), with a live stream to be available on Apple.com and on YouTube as usual. The event invitation has a tagline of "Let Loose" and shows an artistic render of an Apple Pencil, suggesting that iPads will be a focus of the event. Subscribe to the MacRumors YouTube channel for more ...
Apple Silicon AI Optimized Feature Siri

Apple Releases Open Source AI Models That Run On-Device

Wednesday April 24, 2024 3:39 pm PDT by
Apple today released several open source large language models (LLMs) that are designed to run on-device rather than through cloud servers. Called OpenELM (Open-source Efficient Language Models), the LLMs are available on the Hugging Face Hub, a community for sharing AI code. As outlined in a white paper [PDF], there are eight total OpenELM models, four of which were pre-trained using the...
iOS 18 Siri Integrated Feature

iOS 18 Rumored to Add These 10 New Features to Your iPhone

Wednesday April 24, 2024 2:05 pm PDT by
Apple is set to unveil iOS 18 during its WWDC keynote on June 10, so the software update is a little over six weeks away from being announced. Below, we recap rumored features and changes planned for the iPhone with iOS 18. iOS 18 will reportedly be the "biggest" update in the iPhone's history, with new ChatGPT-inspired generative AI features, a more customizable Home Screen, and much more....
Apple Vision Pro Dual Loop Band Orange Feature 2

Apple Cuts Vision Pro Shipments as Demand Falls 'Sharply Beyond Expectations'

Tuesday April 23, 2024 9:44 am PDT by
Apple has dropped the number of Vision Pro units that it plans to ship in 2024, going from an expected 700 to 800k units to just 400k to 450k units, according to Apple analyst Ming-Chi Kuo. Orders have been scaled back before the Vision Pro has launched in markets outside of the United States, which Kuo says is a sign that demand in the U.S. has "fallen sharply beyond expectations." As a...
iPad And Calculator App Feature 1

Apple Finally Plans to Release a Calculator App for iPad Later This Year

Tuesday April 23, 2024 9:08 am PDT by
Apple is finally planning a Calculator app for the iPad, over 14 years after launching the device, according to a source familiar with the matter. iPadOS 18 will include a built-in Calculator app for all iPad models that are compatible with the software update, which is expected to be unveiled during the opening keynote of Apple's annual developers conference WWDC on June 10. AppleInsider...