Mac App Store Reaches 100 Million Downloads

Apple recently announced that 100 million apps have been downloaded from the Mac App Store within the past year. The success of the app store underscores just how much cloud computing has changed the IT landscape since its launch in July of 2008.

Phil Schiller, Apple’s (News - Alert) senior vice president, said the Mac App Store has changed the downloading process for the computer. “In just three years, the App Store changed how people get mobile apps, and now the Mac App Store is changing traditional PC software industry,” said Schiller in a statement, adding that, “More than 100 million downloads in less than a year, the Mac App Store is the largest and fastest growing PC software store in the world.”

After only 24 hours of release, there was a total of more than one million downloads. Apple said Monday that the Mac App Store now offers thousands of apps in education, games, graphics and design, lifestyle, productivity, utilities, and other categories.

The Mac App Store, a feature of OS X Lion, is structured to work the same as Apple’s well-known iOS App Store. Users can click on the icon from their computers and browse through thousands of apps developed specifically for the Mac. Users have the option of downloading free or paid-for applications that enhance their computing experience.

Paul Kafasis, CEO of Mac audio software company Rogue Amoeba, told Information Week in October that the revenue share between developers of apps and Apple wasn’t completely fair. He said that Apple’s 30 percent revenue share wasn’t particularly reasonable, given that most developers pay 3 percent to 10 percent in credit card and processing fees, but allowed that having instant access to 50 million users might make up for it.

Amar Hanspal, senior vice president of Platform Solutions and Emerging Business at Autodesk (News - Alert) told Eweek, that by having his company’s apps in the App store he could reach millions. “With our free AutoCAD WS and the more powerful professional drafting tools of AutoCAD LT, we’re using the Mac App Store to deliver new products and reach a growing base of new Mac customers,” Hanspal said.

Desktop apps have become extremely critical to consumers, forcing IT departments to create plans on dealing with the increased demand, while maintaining consumer interest.