Mac App Store reaches first anniversary with over 8,900 apps
updated 03:25 pm EST, Fri January 6, 2012
Apple apps still in control of charts
The Mac App Store is today celebrating its first anniversary. At first the storefront was only accessible through a Snow Leopard update; access has since been built into OS X Lion, which itself was originally made available as a Mac App Store download. In mid-December announced that it had surpassed 100 million downloads at the store, not including app updates or even Lion sales.
AppShopper notes that the Mac App Store has reached over 8,900 available apps. Apple titles continue to dominate charts, holding on to the six most popular apps and the eight top-grossing ones. In part this reflects Apple's decision to shift almost all of its software distribution to the store, while many important third-party apps, such as Adobe's Creative Suite, are still only found elsewhere.
A prominent Mac game publisher, Aspyr, tells MacRumors that 50 to 60 percent of its digital distribution -- about 500,000 downloads -- was processed through the Mac App Store in 2011. Civilization V: Campaign Edition was chosen as the store's Game of the Year. Significantly, Aspyr also runs its own online distribution service, GameAgent.
The publisher mentions that the store has increased sales for some older titles, thanks to grabbing the attention of casual gamers who might not have looked for them. The bestsellers, though, are said to be the games that Apple promotes.
Junior Member
Joined: Feb 2000
I don't like the App Store
It may make sense for Apple and for developers, but for me, the end user, it's just one extra step that I really don't don't want to take. Now I have to check the App Store for updates along with many other update processes already in place. That doesn't make sense.
I would like to have ONE location to check for updates, where everything is available. Is this too much to ask?
In addition, as I've said many times before, as a UX designer I find the interface terrible and very un-Mac like. Too difficult to navigate, too many clicks to get to information about an app, browsing is virtually impossible, you name it.
If Netflix used an interface like the App Sore, they would definitely be out of business by now. I gladly offer my services if Apple commits to fix this "user de-centric" aberration.