Tag: Mac App Store

Categories
News

50 Billionth Download for the Apple App Store

Say The Same ThingOn May 16th, Apple announced that customers had downloaded over 50 billion apps from the App Store. To commemorate the 50 billionth app downloaded, which was Say the Same Thing by Space Inch, LLC, Apple gave Brandon Ashmore from Mentor, Ohio a $10,000 App Store Gift Card. Eddy Cue, Apple’s senior vice president of Internet Software and Services also noted that it took less than five years to hit this momentous milestone and that Apple thanks all its customers and developers for making the App Store what it is today.

The App Store has been consistently growing, with downloads over 800 apps per second. Customers are downloading over two billion apps per month on the App Store. The App Store offers more than 850,000 apps to iOS device users in 155 countries. Apple has revolutionized how we use mobile devices with the creation of app ecosystem. Apple also noted that the App Store paid out over nine billion dollars to developers. The App Store provides opportunities for developers to mold their ideas into apps, while at the same time providing users the opportunities to use these apps. It’s whole different way of doing business, right from your iOS device.

An important note is that this article is in regards to the App Store for iOS devices and does not include the Mac App Store, which provides apps for OS X.

Feel free to leave questions and comments. One question we have at The Real Mac Genius is: “What is your favorite app?”

[Image Source]

Categories
News

How Apple Can improve the Mac App Store

Apple’s Mac App Store has been a hit and miss among the community of Mac users. Many users like having the Mac App Store because of its easy access to the software. Many users also liked having the software in CD form because they can share it among their family and friends. I personally like the Mac App Store because it’s easy to find apps, and even easier to install and update your app. Sometimes your app goes missing, all you have to do is go back into the Mac App Store, search up your app, and click install and your app will reappear again.

Yet, the Mac App Store has more room for improvement among many other things. I would like to see Apple be able to transfer the CD form of an app and automatically enter it into the Mac App Store. Before the Mac App Store was available, everybody had to buy the CD form of the software. If Apple would allow grandfathered Apple apps, it would eliminate the confusion of updating Apple’s apps. When the Mac App store originally opened, Apple actually let disc-installed Apple apps to be installed and put into the Mac App Store and be marked as installed. Unfortunately this feature doesn’t work anymore; hopefully Apple gets back to that.

Unfortunately on the Mac App Store, users are limited to viewing their Apps from recent to oldest. In the Mac App Store there is a “Purchases” button. When you click that button, you see the lists of Apps you bought from recent to oldest. Apple should allow the user to find their apps in alphabetical, price, and so forth. The Mac App Store only lets full-fledged applications to be put onto the Mac App Store. Apple should loosen up and allot screensavers and widgets on the Mac App Store. They don’t present the same risks as some third-party owners. Some users like to scroll through screensavers and actually buy them. That would put an interesting twist into the Mac App Store.

Apple will certainly change the Mac App Store into a cooler store. The Mac App Store is almost new, so Apple is still trying to fix the store. We just have to be patient and hope that Apple listens to us. Have any questions? Leave a comment and we will get back to you as soon as we can.

Categories
News

Apple’s Back to School Promotion

What is Apple’s Back to School Promotion? Basically, the deal is that when you purchase a new qualifying Mac with Apple education pricing from June 16, 2011, through September 20, 2011, you’ll get a free $100 Back to School Card. You can use the Back to School Card on the Mac App Store, the App Store, the iTunes Store, and the iBookstore.

If you buy a Mac after the June 6, 2011, you are eligible to request an up-to-date upgrade. The upgrade will allow you to upgrade to Lion for free. You must request your Up-to-Date upgrade within 30 days of purchasing a new Mac computer.

Who qualifies for this promotion? College students or students accepted to college, parents buying for college students or students accepted to college, or faculty or staff members at any grade level qualify.

How do you get your $100 Back to School Card? First, you must shop for a Mac at either the Apple Online Store for Education, the Apple Retail Store, the Apple Authorized Campus Store, or call 1-800-MY-APPLE. Second, you will either get your free Back to School Card with your order automatically if you order it at the Apple Retail Store or Apple Online Store or you’ll have to submit your claim online and get your code via email. Third, you will enter the code on your Back to School Card in your iTunes Account to redeem the $100.

[Image Source]

Categories
News

How to: Prepare your Mac for Lion

If you want to upgrade your Mac to OS X Lion, you don’t have to worry about going to the store and having to install a bunch of discs from a box; you can just go to the Mac App Store and buy Lion for $29.99. You also need to prepare your Mac for Lion. Your Mac must have an Intel Core 2 Duo, Core i3, Core i5, Core i7, or Xeon processor for your Mac to be able to run Lion. You can check to see what processor your Mac has by clicking the Apple icon on the top left of your display and choosing About This Mac. Your Mac must also be up to date with the latest version of OS X Snow Leopard. Click the Apple icon and choose Software Update to install version 10.6.8 if you haven’t done so already. After you have done those steps, you can open the Mac App Store and purchase OS X Lion.

There have been questions about the pricing and availability of OS X Lion to business customers and education customers. Apple decided to give business users Volume License contracts at the same $29.99 per license with a minimum of 20 users. Maintenance contracts for extra support will be available for $49.99 with a minimum of 20 users. For education customers, Lion will be included in the Apple Software Collection. The Apple Software Collection will contain Mac OS X Lion, iLife, and iWork for $39 per license with a minimum of 25 licenses.

You are still able to use the same mass installation techniques people use today to deploy Mac OS X. To install Lion on multiple systems on a network, you can simply copy the Install Mac OS X Lion application to the target system and run the installer. Administrators will also be able to use the System Image Utility included in OS X Lion Server to create a NetInstall or NetRestore image.

If you bought a Mac on or after the June 6, 2011, you are eligible to request an up-to-date upgrade. The upgrade will allow you to upgrade to Lion for free. You must request your Up-to-Date upgrade within 30 days of purchasing a new Mac computer.

[Image Source]

Categories
Uncategorized

Lion to ship mid-July with MacBook Airs and Mac Minis

Sources have said that Apple will ship Mac OS X Lion on July 14th. Apple has completed the main components of their first public release of Mac OS X Lion with the seeding of the Golden Master version of the product to developers. The release will come through the Mac App Store for $29.99. Another way to promote the App Store is by providing the Mac OS X Lion.

Separately, a server version of OS X Lion will be available also through the Mac App Store for $49.99. With the Mac OS X Lion release, the MacBook Air may come with it. This has not been confirmed, but it is a little bit suspicious. Apple has been marketing the MacBook Air alongside with the Mac OS X Lion. Sources have said that this release date can be pushed back at Apple’s own will. One of the reasons that Apple may move the date back is because of last minute bugs. Last year, the iOS 4.2 had last minute bugs and Apple ended up pushing the date back. They seeded multiple Golden Master builds to developers until the software was perfect for its public release. Apple wants everything to be perfect so that they can keep their company in top form.