The Mac App Store opens for business on Jan. 6, creating a new front in the app wars. Apple, which announced the start date Thursday, said free and paid apps will be available in such categories as Education, Games, Graphics & Design, Lifestyle, Productivity and Utilities.
CEO Steve Jobs said Apple hopes to revolutionize apps for personal computers as the company’s App Store has for mobile devices, “by making finding and buying PC apps easy and fun.”
70 Percent for Developers
Mac users will be able to browse new apps, see staff favorites, search categories, and read ratings and reviews by customers. Downloading and installing apps will be a one-click process, which, by itself, could revolutionize how users perceive and use apps.
Updates will be delivered through the Mac App Store, another innovation for personal computers. The software to run the Mac App Store will be available as a free download to Mac OS X Snow Leopard users, through Software Update. The next major version of Mac OS X, Lion, is expected to have Mac App Store integrated.
Developers will establish their own prices for apps, and keep 70 percent of the sales price. Hosting, store marketing, and credit-card fees will be borne by Apple.
Although app stores for smartphones and devices such as the iPod touch and iPad have changed those devices into platforms, an industry question is whether such a store is needed for personal-computer software.
Mobile phones have evolved from devices designed to wirelessly make voice calls to devices that can do almost anything, while computers have been able to do almost anything for quite a while. The evolution of phones has been driven by app stores.
The Mac App Store allows a user to find and download an app through an iTunes interface, instead of through a browser, which gives a single funnel for…