Mac OS X Lion Will Not Be Exclusive In The Mac App Store Forever, USB Thumb Drives Are Coming In August

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As we mentioned earlier this morning, Apple launched OS X Lion and it is currently only available in the Mac App Store. In other words, at the present time, the only way to install Lion is with a 3.49GB download.

That being said, we can certainly understand that some may have a slower connection or be watching their bandwidth as to not go over their pre-set limits. And well, given that what is one to do, after all, at nearly 3.5GB in size — Lion is not all that small.

Well, thankfully there are options, though truth be told they involve either a bit more work or spending a bit more money. The first is one that Apple stated a while back, those who want to upgrade but cannot at home can take their Mac into an Apple Store and use their connection for the download. Of course, the obvious is here in that you will need to live close to an Apple Store and also be willing to spend some time in store while downloading.

Moving on though, it seems that Lion will also be coming available by way of a USB flash drive. According to the details we have seen thus far, the USB flash drive with Lion will be available sometime “later this August” and it will be selling for $69.

And yes, we realize the downfall with this option. First, its only July which means waiting anywhere from a few weeks to almost a month and a half if this lands at the end of August. That and, the price, $69 is a pretty big jump from $29. But we suppose that sometimes you have to pay a bit extra for convenience. Plus, on some level, its always nice to have the media stored locally — just in case you ever needed to do a re-install.