Apple’s Mac Store has been opened to developer submissions, potentially leading to a boom in desktop apps similar to that of the iPhone Apps Store on iTunes where some 7 billion apps have been downloaded.
In a note to developers, Apple said: “The Mac App Store will be opening soon. You can get ready by submitting your Mac apps for review now. Log in to the Mac Dev Center for details on setting up an iTunes Connect account, creating Apple-issued Mac Distribution Certificates, and preparing your apps for the review process.”
At a special ‘Back to the Mac’ launch a fortnight ago, where Apple CEO Steve Jobs unveiled the new Mac Book Air and gave an insight into the capabilities of the forthcoming operating system Mac OS X Lion, he said he wants to see developers enjoy the same success with apps for the Mac as has been experienced on the iPhone and iPad.
App Fab
“Every app on the iPad is a full-screen app – sometimes that works great on the Mac. Apps on the iPad auto save and automatically apps resume where you left them. So we’ve been inspired to bring these back to the Mac,” he said at the time.
“The Apps Store has been huge and on the iPhone, it completely revolutionised mobile apps. Over 7 billion apps have been downloaded from the Apps Store and we’ve seen nothing like it in our careers. As part of Lion, we’re going to have a Mac Apps Store with one-click downloads and free and paid-for apps, automatic installation and licensed for use on all your personal Macs.”
Jobs said Apple plans to release its Lion in summer 2011.
But the best news, as usual, he kept till later: “The Mac App Store is going to be great for users and we don’t want to wait until Lion. So we decided to put out the Mac App Store for Snow Leopard and open the store within 90 days.
Applications from developers
“Developers can go to our site and learn about it today and we will be receiving applications from developers in November.”
New features that will thrive on the Mac OS X Lion will be multi-touch gestures. “Touch surfaces shouldn’t be vertical because after a short time you start to fatigue, they are ergonomically terrible. Touch surfaces want to be horizontal, hence we perfected track pads to get multi-touch to the notebook.”
In order to avoid desktop clutter that will no doubt come with the multitude of traditional applications, windows, spaces and now downloadable apps, Jobs revealed the new Mac OS X will boast the same foldering system as on the iPhone 4 and that will soon feature on the iPad, as well as a really cool new feature called Mission Control.
