OS X Lion “Will Soon Be Available” as Apple Asks Devs to Submit Lion Apps

Apple has sent registered Mac OS X developers an email requesting submissions for Lion apps. In the email, Apple says that OS X Lion “will soon be available” and requests that developers use the newly released XCode 4.1 GM build to submit their Lion compatible apps:

OS X Lion, the eighth major release of the world’s most advanced operating system, will soon be available to millions of Mac users around the world. Submit your Lion apps for review now so they can be on the Mac App Store when Lion ships this month.

Be sure to build, test, and compile your apps using Mac OS X Lion GM Seed and Xcode 4.1 for Lion GM seed prior to uploading your binary to iTunes Connect.

If Apple is just now starting to accept Lion apps, that email could indicate that OS X Lion will not be released this Thursday as originally anticipated, but instead slightly later in the month.

Giving more weight to a later launch is AppleInsider. Indicating that a backlit keyboard equipped MacBook Air would be launched during the “week of July 21st” and that Lion may have been delayed due to some “last minute security issues”, AppleInsider also notes that Friday’s are a historically favored launch day for Mac OS X releases:

Friday releases of major OS X upgrades have been somewhat of a tradition for Apple for nearly a decade. With the exception of Cheetah and Puma, which were released on a Tuesday and Saturday, respectively, back in 2001, all major new versions of OS X have made their debut on a Friday: Panther (Friday, Oct. 24, 2003), Tiger (Friday, Apr. 29, 2005), Leopard (Friday, Oct. 26, 2007), and Snow Leopard (Friday, Aug. 28, 2009).

Both the Apple email and AppleInsider information come soon after 9to5mac learned of eight new Mac product codes, split evenly for expected MacBook Air and Mac Pro updates, which 9to5mac expects would launch alongside Lion.

Independently, we have heard chatter of a July 19th or July 22 launch for Lion, but like all other claims on a specific launch date, they appear to be mostly speculative. The only certainty is that Apple appears to maintain a fluid timeline for the Lion release, but putting the launch off a week or two would give Apple plenty of time to approve Lion-compatible apps for the Mac App Store. Among other things, Lion compatibility means 64-bit architecture and also generally includes support for Lion-specific features like Versions and Full Screen apps.

Regardless of when it comes out, Lion will cost $29.99 and be available this July exclusively through the Mac App Store.