Another rumor about Apple from the rumor mill, but this one does sound quite credible. Management at Apple is apparently unwilling to ship the new Sandy Bridge MacBook Air until OS X Lion is finalized and reaches Gold Master (GM) status. The MacBook Air, of course, is ready to go into full production, according to Apple Insider. Apple is doing this so that buyers can have the "latest and greatest experience". One can assume that means Apple wants to get its users used to iCloud, the automatic synchronization service built into OS X Lion (and the replacement for MobileMe).
In addition, Apple is unwilling to ship its new LED Cinema displays and Mac Minis without OS X Lion being finalized. There appears to be no word on why the LED Cinema displays would be included in the wait. The new Mac Minis are slated to have the new Intel Thunderbolt as a main feature. Apple is using the same methodology in regards to iOS devices like the iPhone and iPod Touch. The company wants the new devices to have iOS 5.0, which will be iCloud enabled. Any decision to relent would involve Apple delaying either operating system. This, of course, does not fit in with the company's fundamentals of pushing out new hardware in accordance with its internal models.
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