As many of you will know, January 6th 2011 marked the global launch of the eagerly anticipated Apple Mac App Store, giving those Mac owners running Snow Leopard a nice post-Christmas treat. There had been rumours of Apple releasing an app store for Macs for several months, following the unquestionable success of the iPhone app store. Apple finally revealed the release date on December 16th 2010, with further details of various different apps that were to be launched simultaneously leaked frequently.
Now, one month on from the launch of Apple’s latest phenomenon, I will be giving you an insight into what us Mac-lovers received on January 6th and how I think it can be improved in the future.
Look and feel:
The user interface of the Apple Mac App Store is very similar to that of the iPhone and iPad versions, sharing the same banners and options.
Navigation:
The system is very easy to navigate through and the sections in which the apps are categorised and promoted on the front page makes it even easier for consumers.
Applications:
The Mac App Store was launched with just over 1,000 apps to choose from, with a handful of well-known ones such as Angry Birds (paid), Twitter (free) and Mashable (free). The apps appeared to be fairly evenly split between free and paid, although many of the most useful and appealing apps came at a price.
Since the initial launch, Apple has introduced a number of other applications to its offering, with Hedgewars (an almost exact copy of worms) being my personal favourite. There is still not an app for social networking site Facebook, although there is a paid app that allows you to use the site in the background whilst working on your Mac.
The main pitfalls of the Mac App Store for me are the lack of well-known, highly desirable apps, like Sky Sports or BBC News. I also think that Apple should allow developers to release beta and demo apps within the app store, as the amount of games and general free interesting apps is limited at present.
[…] 3. Mac App Store – Reviewed! […]