Mac App Store Goes Live with Over 1000 Apps

Once again stealing some of the tech news spotlight from the Consumer Electronics Show in Las Vegas, Apple today announced from its Cupertino, California headquarters that it had opened an app store for the Mac OS desktop computing platform. The app store was preannounced at the company's Back to the Mac event last October. The store is designed to make application finding, purchasing, installing, and updating as simple on Apple desktop computers as it is on the company's popular iPhone, iPod touch, and iPad devices.

"With more than 1,000 apps, the Mac App Store is off to a great start," said Steve Jobs, Apple's CEO. "We think users are going to love this innovative new way to discover and buy their favorite apps."

The app store for iDevices has been one of the main reasons for their wild success, and with this move Apple is attempting to create a similar allure for Macs and MacBooks. The store comes in the form of a Mac OS X Snow Leopard update, v10.6.6, rather than an installed app itself. The 115MB update replaces the long familiar "Mac OS Software…" choice from the Apple menu.

Among the 1000-plus apps already available are Apple's own iPhoto '11, iMovie '11, and Garagaband, formerly only available as part of the $49 iLife suite. They'll now sell individually on the app store for $14.99 each. Similarly, members of the company's iWork '09 office productivity suite will now sell individually for $19.99 each. Aperture, Apple's pro-level photo-editing program will be available for $79, down from $199.

But most of the apps in the store come from third-party software houses, which were able to get a jump on the launch with Apple's developer program. The store gives Apple more control over the software, with the ability to accept and reject store entries as it does in the iPhone app store. It also gets the premium tech vendor a 30 percent share of the price of apps sold on the store. One notable vender participating in the launch is Autodesk, a leading maker of design software. Others include Ancestry.com, and Boinx, a maker of video and photo software.

The app store trend is spreading beyond Apple, too, with Google recently launching its Chrome App store, though that offers completely web-based software, rather than locally installed code as Apple's store does. Rumors about Microsoft creating an app store for the next version of Windows have also been floated.

To update your Mac OS X Snow Leopard Mac or MacBook with the app store, run Software Update or head to www.apple.com/mac/app-store. And look for a hands-on report later today on PCMag.com.

About Our Expert

Michael Muchmore

Contributor

My Experience

I've been testing PC and mobile software for more than 20 years, focusing on photo and video editing, operating systems, and web browsers. Prior to my current role, I covered software and apps for ExtremeTech and headed up PCMag’s enterprise software team. I’ve attended trade shows for Microsoft, Google, and Apple and written about all of them and their products.

I still get a kick out of seeing what's new in video and photo editing software, and how operating systems change over time. I was privileged to byline the cover story of the last print issue of PC Magazine, the Windows 7 review, and I’ve witnessed every Microsoft misstep and win, up to the latest Windows 11.

I’m an avid bird photographer and traveler—I’ve been to 40 countries, many with great birds! Because I’m also a classical music fan and former performer, I’ve reviewed streaming services that emphasize classical music.

Technology I Use

For everyday work, I use a good-old Dell tower with 16GB of RAM, a 12th-gen Intel Core i7 processor, and an Nvidia RTX 3060 Ti GPU that runs on Windows 11. I pair it with a 4K Lenovo ThinkVision P27u-10 monitor and a Logitech MX Vertical mouse. For offsite work, I use a 2024 Microsoft Surface Laptop with a Qualcomm Snapdragon X Elite processor. Camera-wise, I moved to mirrorless from a Canon EOS 80D with a Canon 70-300mm IS USM lens. I now have a Canon EOS R7 with a 100-400mm lens, but I miss my DSLR for several reasons.

In order of usage, the software I turn to most frequently is the Edge web browser, Slack, Adobe Creative Cloud, Microsoft 365, Firefox, Brave, and WhatsApp. I use the Windows Phone link app to see everything on my Samsung Galaxy S21 Ultra phone, which has excellent telephoto capability.

For fitness monitoring, I have a Fitbit Charge 6 and use an Anker Smart Scale P1. I’m also a streaming fan, so I subscribe to both Amazon Music Unlimited (especially for its Dolby Atmos content) and Qobuz (for its high-res sound quality and classical catalog). I recently added a Vizio 5.1 Soundbar SE, which sounds surprisingly good given its low price. To holler commands instead of using a remote control, I have the Amazon Fire TV Cube in the living room, which lets me verbally tell the TV what I want to watch. It hooks up to an LG B4 OLED TV. I have a Sonos One speaker in my kitchen that also ties in with Alexa, as does the Echo Dot 2 With Clock in my bedroom. For serious listening, I have B&W 601 speakers plugged into a Conrad-Johnson Sonographe amp and preamp, with a Cambridge Audio AXN10 streamer as source. For reading, I also have a Nook GlowLight 3.

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