Mac App Store actually called App Store, despite no iOS apps

While digging around for a Mac App Store icon, I found myself searching my applications folder for an application titled “Mac App Store.” I couldn’t find it under the applications starting with the letter “M.”

I decided to start at the top of the applications listing and manually work my way through each application one by one until I found it. I eventually found it, but much to my surprise, it’s not actually called the Mac App Store. It’s called the App Store. Isn’t that a curious naming convention?  Turns out Apple’s website now refers to it as the Mac App Store, but lists the store as ‘/mac/app-store/’ on their website.

The first thing that annoyed me during the original Mac App Store announcement was that iOS and Mac Apps were going to be living in two distinct ecosystems. iOS applications continue to be located in iTunes, despite the obvious misnomer presented by that application’s name.

If the Mac App Store is created for those people who have difficulty finding and downloading applications in a world filled with viruses and trojans, wouldn’t putting all applications in one marketplace make more sense?

It seems like the solution is already on the brink of being released. Apple apparently made a concerted effort to rename the Mac App Store to App Store by the time the digital bazaar shipped this morning.

If I had to hazard a guess, I’d suggest that iOS apps will eventually make an exodus from iTunes and into the new App Store application. I mean, Apple’s already separated the two stores on iOS devices, this shouldn’t be that big of a change.

What I don’t understand is why this didn’t happen from the beginning.