Report: Mac OS X Lion Release Date Friday, Not Thursday

There have been various reports circulating the Web on when Mac OS X Lion will launch. A new one from Chinese Mac site, MIC Gadget, is now saying it will be Friday.

The site said Apple stores in China are planning overnights Thursday night. Overnights occur when Apple launches something new and retail management is prepped on the upcoming product. They also redo Apple's displays to feature the new product. Along with the Mac OS X Lion, Apple is reportedly set to release four Macbook Air laptops on Friday as well.

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Various reports have differed as to when the new operating system would be released. An initial report from blog 9to5Mac originally said it would be July 6. However when the date passed, July 14 was the new rumored release date. Now, Thursday is here and it doesn't seem like anything new is ready to be introduced.

Apple has remained quiet on the release date, stating only that it will come sometime in July. Apple introduced the new OS back in June at its annual Worldwide Developer's Conference (WWDC). The upgrade from Snow Leopard to Lion will cost users $29.99 and be available strictly on the Mac App store.

The new operating system will have 250 new features, according to Apple. There are new multi-touch gestures that make the Mac a lot like the iPhone or iPad including momentum scrolling, tapping or pinching your fingers to zoom in on a Web page or image. It's likely that the new features will be available on the new Macbook Airs.

Another new feature on Mac OS X Lion will be Launchpad, which will allow users to see all of their Mac apps in a full-screen layout. Using the multi-touch gestures, users will be able to organize them in any order.

There will also be a new mail app, new conversations and auto save. There is also Air Drop, which finds nearby Macs and automatically sets up a peer-to-peer wireless connection to make transferring files easy.

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