Apple Launching Mac App Store on January 6, '11

By Marcus Yam
published

There's an App for Mac.

App Stores are all the rage today. They've grown and flourished in the smartphone environment, and now they're invading your personal computer. Apple's going to be bringing its App Store model from iTunes to Macs.

Apple today announced that the Mac App Store will open for business on Thursday, January 6. The Mac App Store will be available in 90 countries at launch and will feature paid and free apps in categories like Education, Games, Graphics & Design, Lifestyle, Productivity and Utilities.

"The App Store revolutionized mobile apps," said Steve Jobs, Apple's CEO. "We hope to do the same for PC apps with the Mac App Store by making finding and buying PC apps easy and fun. We can't wait to get started on January 6."

Purchased apps can run on all of a user's personal Macs and updates are delivered directly through the Mac App Store. The Mac App Store will be available to Mac OS X Snow Leopard users as a free download through Software Update.

Mac developers set the price for their apps, keep 70 percent of the sales revenue, are not charged for free apps and do not have to pay hosting, marketing or credit card fees.

Of course, Mac users can still install applications the traditional way without any kind of App Store, but this will be a new avenue for Apple to get in on the action of software sales.

Marcus Yam
Marcus Yam
Marcus Yam served as Tom's Hardware News Director during 2008-2014. He entered tech media in the late 90s and fondly remembers the days when an overclocked Celeron 300A and Voodoo2 SLI comprised a gaming rig with the ultimate street cred.
17 Comments Comment from the forums
  • Silmarunya
    It's a good concept. Many Linux distro's, especially Ubuntu, have used some sort of app store and I love it.

    The only problem is that it will make Apple even wealthier and thus even more arrogant...
    Reply
  • reprotected
    Is it that hard to find programs for Macs?
    Reply
  • fellskrazykayaker
    While it's not a new or unique concept, it's a good idea. I love the convenience of Steam. Seems like the Mac App Store works the same. Buy once and use it on all the computers you own. Automatic updates are nice too.
    Reply
  • tommysch
    Skynet is now self aware.

    Skynet now will be implemented on April 19, 2011 and will begin its attack against humanity on April 21.


    Damn the movie was just 4 months early in its prediction!
    Reply
  • malphas
    I hope Microsoft follow suite with Windows 8 and ideally the next Windows 7 service pack, except don't make it as closed and controlled as Apple no doubt will. Something more akin to Synaptic but some sort of quality control or rating process just to filter out the very worst apps.
    Reply
  • Camikazi
    reprotectedIs it that hard to find programs for Macs?Yes, yes it is.
    Reply
  • tommysch
    malphasI hope Microsoft follow suite with Windows 8 and ideally the next Windows 7 service pack, except don't make it as closed and controlled as Apple no doubt will. Something more akin to Synaptic but some sort of quality control or rating process just to filter out the very worst apps.
    Its called a website... download.com, tucows.com, sourceforge.net etc.
    Reply
  • malphas
    I'm aware there are websites, that's actually exact the kind of quality control mechanisms I had in mind. The blatantly obvious difference here however is an appstore can be integrated into the OS and provide a cleaner, faster, more user-friendly - and potentially safer - service than an ad-laden website(s). As well as tying in other benefits in the future, like combining automatic program updates with the Windows Update feature.
    Reply
  • jfby
    I like how they put 'don't have to pay credit card fees'. Why would they when they only keep 70% of the proceeds?
    Reply
  • joebob2000
    Is this a handy solution to volume licensing issues? Now a school can have the IT guy set up one Mac App Store account, buy an app, and all 200 machines in the school will have access to it. Brilliant! (er wait no...)
    Reply