During the Mountain Lion unveiling event at this year’s WWDC, Apple announced an Up-to-Date program providing a free upgrade to the new system once it hits the market for any customer who obtains a Mac on or after June 11th. Since the company is planning to distribute OS X 10.8 solely through digital download, the free upgrade is actually a redemption code for the online venue.
While the program hasn’t officially launched yet and shouldn’t until the actual Mountain Lion release, the Up-to-Date online application form was already shortly available on the Mac App Store before Apple pulled it without explanation. To sign up, users need to enter the date and place of purchase for the qualifying Mac, provide personal contact info and type in the serial number of their unit. Once a user submits all necessary information, Apple processes the application and delivers the redemption code via email.
In a test run by Mac Rumors, the submitted online form was almost instantly followed by a password-protected PDF attachment containing the redemption code. At the same time, the website received a second email with a password required to open the PDF.
However, Mac Rumors wasn’t able to access the update by redeeming the OS X 10.8 code in the Mac App Store, since the operating system itself isn’t available in the store yet. All attempts to enter the code resulted in an error message reading that it wasn’t recognized as a valid code.
Mountain Lion should come out of Apple labs any day now, with recent hints pointing to a potential July 25th launch.
