Apple's Mac App Store hits 10,000 apps benchmark
Two app-tracking sites each estimate that the Mac App Store has reached that figure, though Apple has declined to confirm it.
Apple's Mac App Store now contains more than 10,000 applications, according to two different third-party estimates.
French outlet MacGeneration today posted its estimate of the tally based on its own data. Macrumors later pointed to its Appshopper site that pulls App Store data and currently lists the store's total at 10,334 apps.
Apple launched the store on January 6, 2011, as a means of distributing software for Mac the same way it did with success on the iOS platform. In December, Apple said it passed 100 million application downloads by users, while making the claim that it was the "fastest growing PC software store in the world."
To put the benchmark -- which an Apple spokesperson declined to confirm -- in context, it took Apple's App Store for iPhone (and later iOS) less than half a year to reach 10,000 apps. At the same time, that store had pulled in more than 300 million downloads, Apple said. Worth pointing out though, is that the App Store is the only way to officially get software on the iOS platform, whereas Mac users can install from other sources.
That said, Apple is setting up the Mac App Store to have more importance in future versions of the Mac OS. In February the company announced Mountain Lion, the next major version of the Mac OS due out in "late summer." One of its key features is Gatekeeper, technology that's been designed to keep users from installing malware with an option that can be turned on to keep new app installations limited to the Mac App Store.