Apple Announces 'Grand Opening' of the Mac App Store

Apple is making the final preparations for third-party developers looking to be featured in the Mac App Store as the service is scheduled to go live January 6th, 2011.

An update to the News and Announcements area of Apple’s developer web site reminds programmers that Mac apps must be submitted no later than Friday, December 31st, 2010, as well as that iTunes Connect will be out of reach from December 23 to December 28.

Titled “Mac App Store opens January 6”, the announcement comes as no surprise to those who’ve already signed up to have their software featured in the venue as 2011 kicks off.

“We are thrilled to announce that on January 6 the Mac App Store will open to millions of users around the world,” Apple states.

“By bringing the revolutionary App Store experience to Mac OS X, the Mac App Store makes discovering, purchasing, and downloading Mac apps easier than ever, and provides you with the best place to distribute your Mac apps.”

Apple believes a reminder is in order for developers who wish to “Be a part of the grand opening of the Mac App Store and take advantage of this exciting opportunity to reach new customers.”

The Mac maker encnourages coders to “Build, test, and compile your apps with Xcode 3.2.5, them submit for review no later than Friday, December 31 at 5 PM PST.”

“As a reminder iTunes Connect will be shutdown from December 23 - December 28. During this time you will not be able to submit your apps to the App Store,” Apple adds.

In related news, Apple has made available six iOS development books which can be downloaded free of charge from the company’s iBookstore. These are:

- iOS Human Interface Guidelines
- iOS Technology Overview
- Object Oriented Programming With Objective-C
- iOS Application Programming Guide
- Cocoa Fundamentals Guide
- The Objective-C Programming Language

Apple recommends updating to iBooks 1.2 before downloading the free books.