Apple - App Store - Buy, download, and install apps made for Mac.

Image via WikipediaApple - App Store - Buy, download, and install apps made for Mac.

With the Mac App Store, getting the apps you want on your Mac has never been easier. No more boxes, no more disks, no more time-consuming installation. Click once to download and install any app on your Mac. The Mac App Store is now available as a software update for any Mac running Mac OS X Snow Leopard.

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At first look it looks similar to the iOS store. It places an icon on your Doc which can be hidden. There are plenty of applications available but I am disappointed to see that iWorks 09 has not been updated. It is getting a little out of date with the release of Office 2011 for Mac. However yesterdays iWorks update adds web sharing ability to Keynote. I am experimenting with that feature right now. I am finishing the upload of a presentation. It is interesting that the presentation is converted to the PowePoint format after it is uploaded. I will add to this post as my experience with the new features grow.

Update 10:40 AM EST

I just downloaded the free Twitter App.  Download and installation of Apps is automatic and very fast.  This is going to be a hit.  

John H. Armwood

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Apple announces Mac App Store will open on January 6 | Computers | MacUser | Macworld

Image via WikipediaApple announces Mac App Store will open on January 6 | Computers | MacUser | Macworld

If you’ve been eagerly anticipating plonking down your hard-earned cash for Mac apps, then you’ll want to mark your calendar. Apple announced on Thursday that it would open the doors to its new Mac App Store in 90 countries on January 6, 2011.

First unveiled in October at Apple’s Back to the Mac event, the Mac App Store aims to offer a parallel experience to the one Apple pioneered in 2008 with its App Store for iOS devices. Users will be able to purchase paid and download free apps in categories like Education, Games, Productivity, Utilities, and more. Any downloaded can be installed on all a user’s personal Macs, and updates are handled by the store. The revenue-sharing deal is the same as with the App Store: developers take 70 percent of income, with Apple taking the other 30 percent to cover hosting costs and credit card fees.

In a press release on Apple’s site, Apple CEO Steve Jobs said, “The App Store revolutionized mobile apps. 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.”

But even prior to its launch, the Mac App Store has already raised some controversy, with many developers pointing to restrictive rules that would block several popular existing apps from sale and others worrying that it may signal the beginning of a slippery slope towards a locked-down ecosystem similar to iOS devices. On the flipside, some have argued that the Mac App Store may be a good thing for consumers and developers alike, with the former gaining an easy central location to find software for their computer, and the latter getting massive exposure among Mac users.

The Mac App Store will be available to users of Mac OS X 10.6 Snow Leopard as a free download via Software Update.

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