By Steve Lo, posted Jul 20, 2011 at 12:30 AM, 805 views,

More Inside Details On Mac OS X Lion Launch in China

The time is finally here! Lion is launching tomorrow, and we have conducted our investigation as to what the stores have to do to get ready for it. We have many insider details from our connections within the Apple stores here in Beijing and Shanghai. Ready? Read on!

We previously mentioned in our other coverage that Apple would be unveiling Lion on the 14th. Well, that didn’t happen, as we updated it due to technical issues with their servers. We now know that Lion will be unveiled tomorrow with several hardware updates coming after it. CFO Peter Oppenheimer told the audience during Apple’s recent earnings call that Lion was launching tomorrow.

Also of note is that Apple upgraded the Migration Assistant to support Lion on their website. Some of the new Apple units do not support Firewire so Target Disk Mode will not work. Apple added a network migration feature for Macs to get around this, as well as PCs for the first time as well.

Now this is a major change for Apple. With all major changes a lot of work is involved. Those posters and displays we previously mentioned are at all Apple stores in China. Some have had them for over a week sealed, primarily flagship ones which tend to get things a day or two before other stores as they need more displays to cover a bigger area. We are told they have overnights, tonight at all the stores in China. We reported in detail previously, including the Apple protocol surrounding overnights, and the amount of effort that goes into keeping everything secret until launch day.

Also there have been other things going on with the store. Lion is the first operating system by Apple to be a download only, with no physical media. With this in mind, we are told by one of the shipping personnel for the Apple still has install images going into the stores. Previous Snow Leopard images came pre-configured, there were two images. One was for all the display computers, with a program called Deepfreeze.

The program Deepfreeze is made by a company called Faronics, everytime the computers get restarted at the end of the night, it goes back to the deep freeze “image”. That is how the computers look all the same every morning when the Apple store gets open. Pretty cool huh? We think so.

The other installation image is for all the computers the employees used. One of the contacts we have in the Shanghai Apple store in Pudong has detailed how it came preconfigured with things like DNS servers, to Apple’s internal network and all the internal programs. Some programs include: Concierge for appointments, setups and iPhone/iPod activations. iRepair for Geniuses to look up unit histories, warranties and put notes. Also the EasyPay, those units that Apple has in their stores for the salespeople and technical support to use connect to it so they are referenced in the kernel extensions of this special build. That is why no other customer can connect to it.

With Lion, this again all changes. Some websites have referenced 3 install images coming on Lacie drives. This is false. They have four different images, which are downloaded by the store to the Lacie Rugged series drives. They have the two images we have mentioned above. They also have two more images, one is for the new JointVenture support program.

This image is for their loaner units. It comes pre programmed with the Apple office suites, which include iLife and iWork and it makes it easy to erase everything when they get their loaners back.

The fourth installation image is the most interesting one. Another contact in from the Beijing Apple store in Sanlitun has told us it is for the new Mac Pro all the stores are getting. As you well know Lion has enhanced handling of all the iOS devices, allowing information to be passed directly to and from the units. In previous iterations of the Apple Server OS, this was not possible without third party programs. All those smart signs, every easy pay they will be managed from this unit. It makes it so much easier than imaging every unit individually. Some stores have close to 500 units so it can be quite a challenge to manage them. By doing this, re imaging, iOS updates, even the security wipe gets so much easier.

This unit is also used for the software caching, so everyone on the public “Apple Store” or private “Argon” network can download updates from Apple without affecting bandwidth. It is a major issue to balance load everything at an Apple Store, with the store computers the employees use often slowing to a crawl.

Apple has said users could pay and download Lion from their stores as well, we have confirmed this unit will work in concert with others in order to facilitate this. Our friends in IS&T (Apple’s tech department) have told us:

“We forsee issues with some stores with so many people doing it at once.”

We understand that only the Pudong store has extensive network infrastructure able to handle load, the other three China Apple stores at Xidan Joy City, Sanlitun and Hong Kong Plaza are not nearly equipped as well our sources tell us.

What’s more, we have been told employees get Lion the day it is out, and it will be a free download for most of the AASPs (Apple Authorized Service Providers). Also of note is the Server version coming shortly after.

One thing is for sure, nothing will ever be the same again. We will update you with any further news related to this exciting update!