Grand opening
The Mac App Store is now live and ready for your custom! It comes as an update to OS X, taking Snow Leopard to version 10.6.6 (a 151.2MB download). We’re installing it this morning and we’ll give you our initial impressions once we’ve had a chance to play with it, but the screenshot on Apple’s website this morning indicate some pretty exciting content including the individual components of iLife ’11 (iPhoto, iMovie, Garageband) as well as iWork (Pages, Numbers, Keynote). Kiwi app Chopper 2 even makes the screenshot alongside Flight Control and other apps. I’ll update this post with screenshots and information so head past the ‘read more’ button for further info.
OSX Update 10.6.6
As I mentioned before, App Store installs as an update to OSX. I don’t believe that there are any new OSX features other than the store according to the update notes in the above screenshot.
New icon
The App Store installs as a new icon on your dock. Access is also available via the Apple icon on your task bar, where ‘Mac OSX Software’ used to be.
The App Store (click to enlarge)
The App Store app itself is lightning fast to load, and feels smooth and lightweight, just like the App Store on the iPad does.
The iWork apps are available to purchase at just $24.99 each, and the iLife ’11 apps are just $18.99 each. Aperture 3 is also available at $104.99.
To test out the buy / install mechanism I ‘bought’ Twitter (free). Installing was super fast, in fact so fast that I didn’t even get a chance to screen-grab the install progress bar which appears under the icon on the dock and, just like in iOS, shows the real-time progress of the download and install. Once apps are installed, the icon is put on your dock, but you can remove it from there and of course it is still in your Applications folder.
Twitter itself is gorgeous and feels just like the iPad app. The timeline scrolls with the same intertia and silky-smoothness when used with a trackpad or Magic Mouse.
Installed... or not?
There had been a bit of speculation about how the crossover between the App Store versions of Apple software such as iLife and the physical-media versions that we might have already bought — would updates come via Software Update or the App Store etc? Well, oddly the App Store seems to recognise that I have iPhoto installed so I presume it will take over the installation of updates to that app, however iMovie and Garageband don’t realise that they are already installed and still give me the option to buy them as you can see in the above screenshot. This fixed itself after a restart — all these apps now show as ‘installed’ so it would appear that the App Store will handle updates to these apps from here on.
Pricing disparities
There does seem to be a bit of disparity with pricing between similar apps with some devs hopping straight into the cheap end of the pool, like Majic Jungle’s Chopper 2 which goes for $1.29. Angry Birds goes for $6.49 while Bejeweled 3 goes for a somewhat pricey $24.99. We’re sure the pricing will settle down soon enough, just like it did for iOS, but we think it’s likely to rest more towards Chopper 2 and Angry Birds than Bejeweled 3.
Purchase via Apple ID
Purchasing is made via your Apple ID, just like in iTunes.
Installing
I bought Chopper 2 (at $1.29 how could you not?) and here is a screen grab of it installing right on the dock with the iOS-style progress indicator.
Pricey?
Harry Potter Lego (which I’m sure is a lot of fun) is priced at $64.99! This price might be about normal for a full game bought on physical media from a store, but somehow in the context of the App Store it seems very expensive. I think developers are going to have to work really hard to encourage people to part with this much cash for a game from now on.
Wrap-up
The App Store is fantastic, and it is going to help Apple further cement the Mac as the computing platform of choice in the coming years. Millions of people have bought iPads since its launch, and a great number of those are Windows users who have never so much as touched a Mac. The next time they’re looking for a new computer, they’ll find much familiarity with the Mac as they will already know how to buy and install software thanks to the strong resemblance to iOS.
For the user, the benefits are numerous and compelling. Not only is it vastly easier to buy and install software, but the fact that Apple holds a record of your purchase and allows you to re-download the software at no extra cost makes switching to a new Mac or recovering from a hard drive failure super convenient.
If you own an iOS device but haven’t seriously considered a Mac as your next computer, then maybe it’s time to think again. Apple continue to push boundaries, remove obstacles, and make the OSX / iOS “eco-system” an even more attractive, safe and compelling place.
Does upgrading to 10.6.6 affect your ability to use AirPrint? I have been using the beta 10.6.5 as I didnt want to lose the feature. I know this is a Mac App Store review but figured I would quickly ask
(camtab has made 480 comments)
I found the answer..it does kill it. But all is not lost as the “hack” for 10.6.5 still works on 10.6.6 as I just tested it. For all other users who want the Mac App Store and AirPrint you can use this to get printing working again http://osxdaily.com/2010/12/01/make-any-printer-airprint-compatible/
When you open it for the first time it tells you “you are not running 10.6.5″ but just click continue (i had to click it twice) and then it loads up and works
Anyway, back to the App Store review but figured you all might want to know
(camtab has made 480 comments)
So far I have to say I am not that impressed with the Mac App Store. The two apps I have downloaded have disappointed me thoroughly, I mean who uses I, J, K,L to control a game…. what’s wrong with the arrow keys.
I have to say I don’t like the Twitter App. I like running my apps full screen and with that you can’t. It doesn’t run at the height of the screen, nor does it run at the width of the screen, back to TweetDeck for me. First app…. Deleted.
I don’t like the fact it automatically installs the item to the dock. In fact I hate that. That is real estate for apps *I* choose to put there. If I want it there I’ll add it thank you very much. Ok so I know I could just drag it off, but I shouldn’t have to.
(Daniel Burgess has made 613 comments)
@ camtab:
Funny you should ask that. Dan was just asking me the same thing. I was using Printopia (one of the third-party solutions) prior to updating and it still works just fine.
This sounds cool! I can’t wait to download it. Have to wait for my dad. Hes the Admin of our family computer.
(richboy247 has made 17 comments)
Are the prices in $NZ?
(m.hemmings has made 2 comments)
I had a few teething problems this morning but all up and running now.
Bought Twitter (great) Angry birds and chopper 2 all great.
I notice the iLife suite of apps shows as installed but not the iWorks suite of apps??
(Paul has made 337 comments)
m.hemmings wrote:
As long as you are viewing the NZ app store or signed in with an NZ app store account yes the prices will be in NZ Dollars.
(Paul has made 337 comments)
@ Paul:
Mine was like that at first, but now all iLife and all iWork apps show as installed for me. Seems to take it a while to register that you have them for some reason.
FYI your article states that apps installed outside of the mac app store, which show as installed, will receive updates. This is incorrect, you’ll have to purchase the apps again unless Apple or developers figure out a way to support existing apps through the app store
More here http://lifehacker.com/5726764/why-the-mac-app-store-sucks
(raab has made 24 comments)
Anyone else getting endless “Connection failed” messages when trying to log in? I finally got in this morning after about 20 goes. Tonight, I’ve been trying almost solidly for over an hour and cannot get it to log in. I’ve even done a reboot, to no avail. This is seriously annoying.
(zkarj has made 48 comments)
Update: I can’t log into iTunes either. Looks like their authentication servers are taking a walloping. Perhaps all the data centres in North Carolina aren’t enough.
(zkarj has made 48 comments)
Not loving it, yet. All I wanted was a decent planner/organiser that would sync between my phone and macbook without having to go through google calendar – and yep, I could have Things do that, but I’m still not prepared to shell out in excess of $70 when really Apple should be doing this anyway.
Hoping the number of apps increases quickly, so the competition kicks in and we have developers realising that with the kind of market exposure they get through a vehicle like this means they can charge a lower price.
(rkwrkb has made 4 comments)
@ rkwrkb:
Both iCal and the Calendar app in iOS support a massive range of standard calendar types, not just Google… there’s MobileMe, Yahoo!, Microsoft Exchange, any CalDAV calendar… it’s pretty much as universal as it gets. All you need to do is setup any one of these accounts and then you manage it from within iCal or iOS… no need to ever touch the web interfaces, you won’t even be aware of what online service is under-pinning it and they will sync over the air between eachother.