Apple’s Mac App Store opened for business today with more than 1,000 free and paid apps for devices like the MacBook Air.
The Mac App Store is available for Snow Leopard users through Software Update as part of Mac OS X v10.6.6.
“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 favourite apps.”
Jobs announced that Apple would be launching a dedicated Apps Store for Mac devices when he unveiled the new MacBook Air and the new Mac OS X Lion at a ‘Back to the Mac’ event in October.
What’s in the Mac App Store?
The Mac App Store offers apps in education, games, graphics and design, lifestyle, productivity, utilities and other categories. Users can browse new and noteworthy apps, find out what’s hot, see staff favourites, search categories and look up top charts for paid and free apps, as well as user ratings and reviews.
Entirely new apps, as well as current Mac favourites, are available from developers such as Autodesk, Ancestry.com and Boinx. iPhoto, iMovie and GarageBand apps from Apple’s popular iLife ’11 suite are available individually in the Mac App Store for US$14.99 each, and Pages, Keynote and Numbers apps from iWork are available for US$19.99 each.
Aperture 3, Apple’s photo editing and management software, is available for US$79.99.
“We’re delighted to bring our professional-grade paint and drawing app, Autodesk SketchBook Pro, to the Mac App Store on its first day of launch,” said Carl Bass, Autodesk’s CEO.
“We’ve seen tremendous success on the Mac, iPhone and iPad with multiple apps. We’re excited to offer SketchBook Pro on the Mac App Store so artists can easily create everything from quick sketches to high-quality artwork right on their Macs.”
To get the Mac App Store, download the Mac OS X v10.6.6 Software Update or visit the website.
“By offering the Ancestry.com Family Tree Maker app on the Mac App Store, we’re making it even easier for people to discover and access their family history,” said Tim Sullivan, Ancestry.com’s CEO. “The Mac App Store will drive a new generation of innovation on the Mac platform.”
“We’re thrilled to have our award-winning animation, video production and photography software available on the new Mac App Store,” said Oliver Breidenbach, Boinx Software’s CEO. “The Mac App Store makes it easier than ever for consumers to access all the innovative software designed for the Mac.”
