In less than a year, Apple has managed to convert enough people to its computer software digital download platform to reach 100 million downloads.
That’s an average of around 200 downloads every minute since the platform went live on January 6.
The Mac App Store was Apple’s way to bring the seamlessness and simplicity of finding apps on the iPhone, to the much more convoluted and difficult-to-navigate world of computer programs.
So now, instead of going to a software maker’s website and finding out how to download their program, or finding a software download website and praying it’s safe, users simply launch the Mac App Store and grab what they want from there.
“The Mac App Store is the largest and fastest growing PC (personal computer) software store in the world,” remarked Apple SVP Philip Schiller.
The streamlined platform was no doubt part of the inspiration for Microsoft to promise a “Windows Store” to be included as part of next year’s Windows 8 operating system refresh.
Of course, while this is all awesome for consumers, some software makers dislike the idea of users getting their content from a third-party source and paying a commission to the digital download platform. That hasn’t stopped nearly every major Mac software publisher from creating a presence on the Mac App Store, but in the much vaster world of PC software, it remains to be seen if there will be as smooth a transition.
Nevertheless, it is quite clear that a universal, definitive source for downloading content on your device is a trend that will only continue to grow. 100 million downloads kind of proves that.
