Apple to Sell OS X Lion on USB Drives

Apple, in its official statement for Mac OS X Lion has announced that it will be selling the Operating System on a USB flash drive this August. These bootable thumb drives will have the full installer loaded on to them and will sell at $69.99. They require an Intel-based Mac with a Core 2 Duo, i3, i5, i7 or Xeon processor and 2GB of RAM. On the other hand, the digital download costs around 29$.

Apple's new OS to be made available on USB drives

Lion is the first ever Mac OS X version that does away with physical copies entirely. Initially, installers were distributed via bootable CDs, and later DVDs. However, Mac OS X Lion is at the cornerstone of Apple’s new digital downloads strategy: the Mac App store. Apple already has quite a bit of experience implementing this model in iOS devices. However, Lion will prove whether this transition to the new model will be successful or not with desktops.

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The thumb drive does seem a bit on the expensive side as opposed to the digital download. But, this method could be good news for those who do not have access to a broadband connection or need an installer on-the-go. However, as with every Apple product launch, an official India launch will have to wait for a while.