Mac App Store hits 10,000 apps milestone just over a year after launch

Just over a year after launching, Apple's Mac App Store now contains over 10,000 apps for use with the company's desktop and laptop machines.

Apple’s Mac App Store appears to be growing steadily, with estimates from two separate sites — MacRumors and MacGeneration — suggesting it now contains 10,000 apps (both free and paid) for Apple’s desktop and laptop machines.

The download-only Mac App Store launched in January last year as the Cupertino-based company pushes to change the way its users obtain new software for their computers. Inspired by the success of the iOS App Store, Apple has designed the Mac App Store to be a simple, straightforward, one-stop shop for users’ software requirements.

The store has been designed to make it easy to search for new software titles, with categories, product descriptions and user reviews offered. If you’ve already bought a product through Apple, the company will already have your payment details on file, so purchasing something through the Mac App Store will be just a click away.

Of course, Apple does well out of the deal, taking a 30 percent cut of any sales, leaving the developer with the remainder. Apple also keeps tight control on what appears in its store as submitted software must first be passed by a team of evaluators.

While the landmark figure of 10,000 apps may sound very reasonable for a single store, it pales in comparison when you consider the size of the iOS App Store, which now offers over half a million apps to users of Apple’s mobile devices. The high number can be partly attributed to the fact that the iOS store opened for business almost three years before its Mac counterpart, and also the large number of iPhones and iPads in existence makes the iOS market more attractive to developers.

As for how popular the Mac App Store is proving with users, in December last year — just 11 months after the store launched — the tech giant announced that downloads had already passed the 100 million mark.

Not surprisingly, Apple now sells its own major software titles through its online store, and last year famously offered its latest OS X, Lion (v10.7), as a download-only release through the store.