Mac OS X Lion Gold Master indicates MacBook Air Release Date

Apple Mac OS X Lion Gold Master build for developers has been released, as an indication that Apple is going to ship the new Mac OS X 10.7 Lion operating system shortly in comming weeks.

"Gold Master" (GM) is a label term for software developers use for the software that has been completed and presumably is ready to release for distribution. Microsoft terms it as "Release to Manufacturing" (RTM).

However, Apple Mac OS X 10.7 codename "Lion" will not need distribution on DVDs, packaged, boxes and conventional shipment through retail stores because it will be available only via download from Apple Mac App Store.

Mac OS X Lion and/or Apple MacBook Air Release Date

Users are anxiously waiting for the upcoming release of OS X 10.7 Lion and/or some new Macbook Air hardware. Previously, the rumored release date was more towards the middle to second half of July 2 to 3 weeks away. But a new claim made on T-GAAP (Three Guys and a Podcast) says a source told them that OS X Lion will officially be released next Wednesday, July 6th at 9:00AM (PST). Their reasoning for believing the source:

One particular item of interest about this news is that with OS X Lion being an online-release-only, Apple can wait until the 11th hour to release new OS. They don’t have to first lock it down, then press it onto DVDs, then box it, then ship to their hundreds of stores and through distribution in order to meet a certain publicly announced launch date. With an online release, Apple just needs to upload the final release to their servers and then make it available.

Announcing financial results while also releasing two extremely high profile products is not inline with Apple style. Getting everything out of the way before said financial results sounds a bit more realistic, not to mention exciting for those people who sold their only Mac to fund a new Macbook Air and have had to live solely on an old Windows laptop for the last week.

Taking this route also allows Apple to say “Hey, financial results are already great but we just released two massive products. Next quarter will be even better.”

We surely hope the t-gaap source is correct because we can’t stand this stupid laptop much longer. Not to mention, it will be a sort of “after party” for the 4th of July holiday weekend.