OS X Mountain Lion has been released, with the update for Macs hitting the Mac App Store today. A $19.99 download - which covers all your personal Macs registered to the same Apple ID - the refresh brings with it more features borrowed from iOS devices like the iPhone and iPad, including a new Notifications Center, Game Center integration, and baked-in iCloud
A large number of apps were affected by an upgrade crash bug on the iOS and OS X App Stores, a problem first spotted by Marco Arment, the developer of Instapaper. The story quickly gained traction, with Arment updating his blog highlighting all the apps that were stricken with the issue. Apple commented that it was looking into the problem last night, and has now confirmed that it has been fixed.
Apple provides an easy way to update your apps on iOS and OS X via both App Stores, but reports indicate that updates for some apps pushed to the store are causing crashes. Marco Arment, the developer behind Instapaper, first noticed the issue after posting an update to his app yesterday. Just a few minutes after pushing the update, users were sending emails and tweets reporting that the app was crashing despite the fact that the update was stable when submitted to the App Store.
Adobe Lightroom 4 has arrived in the Mac App Store, the first time the photo management and editing software has been distributed through Apple's official download center for OS X. Announced alongside Adobe Creative Suite 6, Lightroom 4 supports not only reviewing of raw photos from your camera but basic editing - including tweaks such as black & white conversion, highlight/shadow recovery, and one-click exposure and contrast adjustment - and social network sharing.
As the Mac App Store passed 1 year in business earlier this year, so too has the store this month passed the 10,000 applications - with some surprising entries sitting at the top of the charts this week. Some unsurprising entries into each of the three "top" lists on the Mac App Store are Apple-made apps OS X Lion, iPhoto, and Keynote. You'll find several apps you may have never heard of before today as well, especially in the "Top Free" section of the store. This digital app store is distributed with all Mac OS X installs, and takes cues from the iTunes App Store on how the software business is evolving to a click-and-download model as fast as you can say environmentalism.
Apple has begun accepting nominations for the 2012 Apple Design Awards for well-designed, state of the art, and innovative apps. The awards have been based on different criteria every year since Apple began the tradition back in 1996. This year the nominees are limited to apps distributed through the App Store or the Mac App Store.
Apple announced a new program today called Developer ID that will allow third-party developers to distribute apps outside of the Mac App Store, while keeping things safe for consumers. The move comes after Apple introduced a new Gatekeeper feature in OS X 10.8 Mountain Lion, which only allows users to install apps from the Mac App Store in order to safeguard against malicious software.
Apple began its Mountain Lion Gatekeeper charm-offensive with developers last week, it's been revealed, though there remain concerns around whether non-Mac App Store apps will get the same advantages as those released through the official download store. Developers Panic have documented Apple's outreach efforts, co-founder Cabel Sasser having been invited to a preview session with Mountain Lion earlier in February, where the Cupertino company was keen to reassure him that it has no plans to make the Mac App Store the only way to get apps in OS X.
Apple-vaunted iOS image editing app Snapseed has launched on the Mac App Store, with the company promising an Android version is in the pipeline for release soon. Originally launched for the iPhone and iPad, and winning App of the Year 2011 in the process,, Snapseed Desktop for Mac is now available for OS X priced at $19.99.
Apple's Mac App Store has hurtled past the 100m downloads point, less than a year after throwing open its doors to OS X users. Launching on January 6 2011 as Apple's method-of-choice for getting new software onto MacBook, iMac and Mac Pro machines, the Mac App Store follows in the wake of the App Store for iOS, which is already seeing 1bn downloads per month.
Apple proudly announced that its OS X Lion, which was released yesterday, has already sold more than 1 million copies. The major OS revamp retails for $29.99 and is only available by download through the Mac App Store. This means the company raked in just under $30 million on the first day.
Apple today released OS X Lion to the masses, but only allowed customers to download the major OS revamp via the Mac App Store---no boxed versions were offered in Apple retail stores. This will be the fate of many Mac applications starting today as the company aims to purge all boxed software from its retail stores.