As most Apple iPhone or iPad users can attest, the iTunes App Store is a good part of the appeal of owning an Apple device – it’s an easy and accessible way to sift through and select third-party products. Over the next couple of months, Apple will apparently extend the App Store to include a collection of OS X apps, or desktop widgets, which can be downloaded exactly like a regular app for an iPhone or iPad.
Apple will require that each app pass an approval process, which raises some concern from the developing community. But as long as computers have a browser and optical drive, non-sanctions programs can still find a way onto your Mac. (For now at least.)
The Mac App Store will go live for Snow Leopard users within 90 days, Apple CEO Steve Jobs said today; the marketplace will also be included in the new Lion operating system when it ships in the summer of 2011. Over at Information Week, Thomas Claburn is reporting that Apple will host and sell third-part Mac App Store downloads for a 30 percent commission, which some analysts say “isn’t particularly reasonable.”
