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Apple to Open Its Mac App Store in January

By NICK BILTON



Apple on Thursday announced that its Mac App Store is scheduled to open for business on Jan. 6.

In a company press release, Apple said the new store would “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.”

Steven P. Jobs, Apple’s chief executive, reiterated his hopes for the upcoming App Store, noting that he hoped to have the same impact with the distribution and creation of applications designed for a personal computer as Apple has had with mobile apps for the iPhone.

The new Mac App Store is expected to cause some strife for larger software companies, including Adobe and Microsoft, who will have to battle a new wave of app developers that can sell software through the new store, bypassing expensive traditional software distribution.

Apple said it planned to split the revenue from the store with developers, where Apple will take 30 percent and the other 70 percent goes to the software creator. For traditional staid software companies this might sound like a sour deal, but for smaller developers Apple seems to be offering a fair price to host, distribute and market the apps.

The store is expected to work in a similar fashion to the App store currently used on the iPhone, with some software available as a free download. It is unclear what the median price point will be for paid software. Currently the most popular paid mobile phone apps cost between $1 and $5.

Apple clearly plans to take full advantage of the Mac Store, as it noted in the announcement on its Web site. To start, Apple will make its own software available through the store, including Pages, Numbers, GarageBand and iPhoto. This software will cost between $15 and $30.

http://bits.blogs.nytimes.com/2010/12/16/apple-plans-mac-store-opening-in-early-january/?hp