Mac App Store to miss the Christmas rush

Stephen Withers
Friday, 17 December 2010 07:21

IT Industry - Strategy

Apple has revealed the opening day for the Mac App Store: January 7, 2011. So don't max out that credit card at the Boxing Day/New Year sales!

First announced during the Mac OS X 10.7 Lion preview, the idea of the Mac App Store is to simplify the sale, purchase, installation and updating Macintosh software to the same extent as the App Store did for iPhone/iPad apps.

Apple has been accepting submissions from developers since early November, and has now announced that the shutters will go up on the Mac App Store on January 7.

The store will be available to buyers in 90 countries at launch - presumably everywhere that the iTunes Store currently operates. Potential customers will need to install the Mac App Store application, which will be offered through via Software Update. Mac OS X 10.6 Snow Leopard will be required.

"The App Store revolutionised mobile apps," said Apple CEO Steve Jobs. "We hope to do the same for PC apps with the Mac App Store by making finding and buying PC apps easy and fun. We can't wait to get started on 7 January."

Apart from the simple (and for many people familiar) purchase mechanism, a big advantage for buyers is that software from the Store is licensed for use on all their personally owned Macs. Another is that updates also will be delivered through the Mac App Store, reducing the number of separate checks needed to ensure that all software is up to date.

But some see a downside - please read on.