Apple shows off Mac App Store, Launchpad in Lion

According to Apple, the Mac App Store is the number one place to buy PC software — even topping giants like Wal-Mart and Best Buy. This growth is evident when looking at small developers. According to Phil Schiller, “Pixelmator made $1m in their first 20 days.”

In Lion, the Mac App Store will include in-app purchasing, Push Notifications for updates, sandboxing and delta OS updates. Push Notifications should help users stay up to date. As in Snow Leopard, users have to open the App Store to check for app updates.

Delta updates take one more thing off of Software Update’s shoulders. In Lion, users will be able to update to 10.7.1, etc., right from the Mac App Store. It seems that Software Update may be going away at some point soon.

Launchpad was also shown off. Launchpad looks very much like an iPad homescreen, with rows of icons to launch apps, folders and auto-updating when apps are added.

While it doesn’t look like much has changed since the last time Apple showed it off, it is still a quick way to get at installed apps on the Mac:

Photo Credit: This is my next…

Stephen Hackett, formerly a Lead Mac Genius at Apple, now spends his days running the IT department of a large non-profit in Memphis, TN. He writes about Apple, design and journalism at forkbombr.net. Like all twenty-somethings, you can find him on Twitter. Oh, and he has a dogcow tattoo.