Apple Mac App Store to Launch Jan 6

Following the tremendous success Apple saw with the iPhone App Store, Steve Jobs announced the opening of Mac App Store.

Mac App Store is the iPhone App Store equivalent for selling and buying Mac OS X software. This is going to be a first for traditional desktop software to be sold this way.

And it will be very interesting to see how successful it is going to be.

I say this because the traditional software developers have gotten accustomed to selling their software through their own websites or through a few online retailers and fewer brick and mortar stores.

And usually they get to take the biggest cut from the sales. Apple though has been taking 30% of the iPhone app sales from developers and are bringing the same commission model of Mac App Store.

For a software developer that could be a huge pill to swallow. But, if you have seen the incredible success enjoyed by some of the iOS app developers, this could be a blessing in disguise for some indie developers. The huge cut taken by Apple could be offset by huge number of people browsing through the App Store than the independent developer’s website.

Mac App Store is set to open on January 6 and to be available in 90 countries. I am excited to see how it takes off.

The Mac OS X Snow Leopard update 10.6.6 added a feature where it will search the Mac App Store for apps to open unsupported files. Also, the new store won’t have in-app purchases or Game Center.

Here is an interesting read – Replacing Apple Downloads with the Mac App Store.

Here is Apple’s complete press release on this

CUPERTINO, California—December 16, 2010—Apple® today announced that the Mac® App Store℠ will open for business on Thursday, January 6. By bringing the revolutionary App Store experience to Mac OS® X, the Mac App Store makes discovering, installing and updating Mac apps easier than ever. The Mac App Store will be available in 90 countries at launch and will feature paid and free apps in categories like Education, Games, Graphics & Design, Lifestyle, Productivity and Utilities.

“The App Store revolutionized mobile apps,” said Steve Jobs, Apple’s CEO. “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 January 6.”

The Mac App Store lets you browse new and noteworthy apps, find out what’s hot, view staff favorites, search categories and read customer ratings and reviews. Like on iPhone®, iPod touch® and iPad™, you can purchase, download and install apps in just one click and start using them immediately. Purchased apps can run on all of your personal Macs and updates are delivered directly through the Mac App Store so it’s easy to keep all of your apps up to date. The Mac App Store is available to Mac OS X Snow Leopard® users as a free download through Software Update.

Mac developers set the price for their apps, keep 70 percent of the sales revenue, are not charged for free apps and do not have to pay hosting, marketing or credit card fees. To find out more about developing for the Mac App Store visit developer.apple.com/programs/mac.

Apple designs Macs, the best personal computers in the world, along with OS X, iLife, iWork, and professional software. Apple leads the digital music revolution with its iPods and iTunes online store. Apple is reinventing the mobile phone with its revolutionary iPhone and App Store, and has recently introduced its magical iPad which is defining the future of mobile media and computing devices.

{ image via 9to5mac.com }