AppStore.com Vanity URLs Teased During Star Trek Teaser

We got to see a lot of funny and great commercials during the Super Bowl last night, including a short teaser for Star Trek: Into Darkness. However, at the end of the trailer, you'll notice that the link to the official app uses a new AppStore.com vanity URL, which is the first time we've seen such a thing in public.

A document from Apple's developer webpage was released last week talking about the new shorter URLs, but this is the first time we've seen it in action. Going to AppStore.com/StarTrekApp will take you to the app's page in the app store, instead of using the longer URL form that involved a bunch of numbers that no one would be able to remember.

The vanity URLs will be able to allow developers to create shorter links for developer app pages, as well as landing pages for both iOS and Mac apps. These new URLs will no doubt increase the exposure that developers give their apps. In the past, promotors would simply display a banner or icon that said to look for the app in the App Store, but now they can add in a direct link, which will certainly increase the exposure of the app.

If you're up for a little history lesson, the late Steve Jobs actually acquired the AppStore.com domain from Salesforce CEO Marc Benioff as a personal gift in 2008 after the iTunes App Store was officially announced. And not like it's a huge surprise or anything, but the Cupertino-based company and Amazon are currently in a legal battle over the "app store" name, in which the court ruled that it was a general term and was not to be trademarked.

[via CNET]