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It does not look like too many people are complaining about Apple’s refusal to ship OS X Lion on install discs. If anything, a celebration has been going on for the past 24 hours. Mac users downloaded Lion over a million times in just a single day. This makes Apple’s latest operating system the fastest selling release in the history of the Mac. And yes, this has everything to do with the Mac App Store.
In a statement, Senior Vice President of Worldwide Product Marketing Phil Schiller could not help but boast about the accomplishment:
Lion is off to a great start, user reviews and industry reaction have been fantastic. Lion is a huge step forward, it’s not only packed with innovative features but it’s incredibly easy for users to update their Macs to the best OS we’ve ever made.
That last bit of the quote is precisely why so many people are upgrading in such a small amount of time. Apple considers OS X Lion a major release, yet the company priced it at only $29.99 for existing Snow Leopard users. Plus, it is available only via the Mac App Store. You will have a hard time finding Lion on any discs or USB drives, though the latter is coming soon for $69 — a $40 price increase. Apple wants people to switch to app stores for all their software needs and restricting Lion’s distribution methods only supports that movement.
Customer satisfaction so far has been overwhelmingly positive, too. Early adopters swarmed back to the Mac App Store after downloading Lion to give it a proper review. Right now the new OS has a 4.5 star average out of over 9,000 ratings. There are some reports of minor bugs, but users can expect that in a first release. Apple is usually quick with patching up any issues. Also, if you are still on Leopard, you will have to make the move to Snow Leopard before upgrading to Lion. No such leap from OS X 10.5 to 10.7 is possible. But even combining the two prices, $60 is much cheaper than the average upgrade for Windows.
If you were not one of the first million to install the king of the jungle on your Mac, the vast majority of reviews are giving the green light to explore the world of Lion.
