On January 6th the Mac App Store was released in Apple's 10.6.6 Software Update. The Mac App Store adds a single location for everyone on a Mac to access a growing library of application that range from free to over a hundred. The store brings games to the mac such as the popular iPhone game, Angry Birds, as well as apps for social networking, like Socialite. All though we still desire a larger library of applications, the Mac App Store makes it easier for Mac users to get a wide range of software and easily sync them among computers and update them.
Interface:
The interface of the Mac App Store is a simple Apple-style layout. The store resembles the App Store in iTunes and only consists of a few parts. The top of the screen consist of a forward and back button as well as Featured, Top Charts, Categories, Purchased, Updates, and across from that is the search bar. The Featured tab gives you access to some of the most popular apps, new apps, and staff favorites. You are brought here when you open up the store and it allows you to see most of the apps you want to look at. The Top Charts tab allows you to view the most popular free and paid apps and Categories allows you to browse through the applications by different selections, such as Games or Productivity. Updates and Purchased allow you to make sure all your apps are up-to-date and what you have bought. Along with the five buttons at the top of the screen is a simple, Apple styled search bar that allows for easy browsing throughout every app, allowing you to find what you want, faster. Although very simple, they layout of the Mac App Store is easy to navigate while doing what it was made to do.
Features:
The Mac App Store is not full of an abundant amount of features, but does ge the job done. Apple built this program for what they intended it to do, download a large amount of apps. A user can sign into the Mac App Store with the same account as their iTunes account and use their itunes gift cards with it as well. There is a simple Buy or Free button to download the applications, almost identical to the iTunes Store. The Mac App Store allows for syncing of apps between computers which is a nice feature to have when you have multiple macs. Having to repurchase apps constantly can be tedious and expensive so the syncing of apps is a very useful feature. The Mac App Store is a pretty basic place at the moment but we look forward to more in the future, hopefully with automatic syncing and updating or even a genius, suggestion, feature like in iTunes. Although we do wish to see more out of the store, the first version is a good start for something that could grow to be great.
Wrap Up:
Overall the Mac App Store is a great place for Mac users to download their applications, if they can find them. There is still room for more applications and development of the actual store, but it is a good first start. The UI is simple, yet neat and allows for easy access to what you need to find. The app store is a great start to this new part of Apple's operating system, destin to grow into something great.
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