Will I still be able to buy and install Lion after Mountain Lion is released?
I own an Early 2008, white MacBook (MB403LL/A) which still has Snow Leopard, 10.6.8, installed.
My understanding is Mountain Lion will not support my MacBook. If this turns out to be true then I would probably want to upgrade to Lion since it will be the last supported (for a bit longer) release which I could use.
Previously, before the App Store when OS X was sold on optical media, it was always possible to purchase an older version of OS X. The media was still "out there".
With Lion I am not sure what my options are. Does anyone know if I would still be able to buy and install Lion from the App Store after Apple releases Mountain Lion?
I'm just trying to better understand what my options might be. I really have no desire to install Lion unless and until I feel I have no other choice.
Update: July 26, 2012
Copying the link to MacWorld article Apple pulls Lion from the Mac App Store into this question. (The link was in one of bmike's comments below.) The article seems to sum up my question/concerns about this matter rather well.
I also found the excerpt from this article quoted below interesting. Apparently not even Apple knows how to respond to this?
- ... Apple spokesperson Monica Sarkar told Macworld that, while Lion is no longer available for sale from the Mac App Store, customers can still purchase it from the legacy products list via Apple phone sales. But when we called 1-800-MY-APPLE, sales representatives there said Lion was not available.
I called 1-800-MY-APPLE and bought Lion 10.7 for only $19. I told the automated machine that I wanted to buy OS X 10.7 Lion. I was transferred to a sales representative, and he looked it up and said it was $19.99 plus taxes. I was surprised because I was expecting a $29.99 price tag. So I made him double check to make sure it was indeed 10.7 Lion and not 10.8 Mountain Lion. He said that it was for sure and that I would be emailed a PDF with a redemption code to get it.
I went through with the purchase last night (November 6, 2012) and got the email today. I was able to redeem the code in the App Store and download it from there!
Apple was selling Lion as a physical deliverable from the web store until the middle of the day 25 July.
- http://store.apple.com/us/product/MD256Z/A
Since this SKU has been removed as a simple product that can be ordered without speaking with a person, you will want to call Apple Sales at 1-800-MY-APPLE to buy Lion media for $29.99 or call 1-800-APL-CARE (or an international support number) to order replacement media should you already have a license.
The Lion Upgrade is also no longer for sale from the Mac App Store so you'll want to go through the physical media ordering or perhaps buy a copy of the Lion USB drive second hand.
There's a chance you'll still be able to find the OS X Lion USB Thumb Drive somewhere, even if Apple pulls the Lion upgrade from the App Store. The media should still be "out there," as you say, just on a USB stick instead of an optical disc. But it's more expensive: $69 for the thumb drive vs. $29 from the App Store. And, being less popular than the App Store download method, it may possibly be somewhat harder to find after Mountain Lion is released (pure speculation on my part).