Apple yesterday announced all the way from sunny Cupertino
Apple CEO Steve Jobs said: "With more than 1,000 apps, the Mac App Store is off to a great start. We think users are going to love this innovative new way to discover and buy their favorite apps."
Apple’s recent success has been largely attributed to the popularity of apps for iDevices, and this latest move is an attempt to create similar allure for Macs and Macbooks.
The store is brought to Mac users in the form of an OS update, from OS X Snow Leopard 10.6.4 to 10.6.6, rather than the store as an installed app. The Mac OS Software option will be replaced by the 115mb update.
Apple’s own apps are available from the choice of over one thousand apps, including iPhoto 11, iMovie 11 and Garageband, previously only available bundled with the iLife suite, they are now available from the app store for $14.99 each. Components of the iWord office suite are also available individually for $19.99 each. Prices in GBP currently unavailable at the Creatives offices as we're using stinky Windows :(
Some programs have been drastically reduced in price, including Apple’s photo-editing program Aperture, down from $199 to $79. This move could be put down to third party software being made available through the store. The store gives Apple the ability to reject and accept store entries (as it currently does with the iPhone app store) and allows premium tech vendors a 30% share of the price of apps sold.
Leading design software vendor Autodesk have participated in the launch, as well as Bionix and Ancestry.com.
App stores popularity has recently spread beyond Apple, with search engine giant Google launching its Chrome App store offering web-based software such as Tweetdeck. Rumours that Microsoft are developing an app store for Windows users have recently started to circulate.
To get started with Apple’s app store simply run a software update or head to apple.com/mac/app-store
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