Apple Removes Downloads Tab, Splits iPod+iTunes Section in Half

In a move directly tied to Friday’s availability of iPad pre-orders, Apple has removed the Downloads tab from the Apple.com navigation bar. As customers were being offered the possibility to secure their own iPad unit, the Mac maker updated not only its online store, but also the Apple.com main page, which now features a few aesthetic changes.

If you’re scared that Apple has completely scrapped the place where you could grab the latest updates, and great third-party software, don’t be. It’s still there (at http://www.apple.com/downloads/), only the Downloads tab is no longer present in the navigation bar at the top of the Apple.com main page. It had to go so that Apple could include the iPad tab.

You can easily get to the unchanged Downloads section (granted, it was even easier before) by using the search field in the top-right side of the page. Just type in “download” and you’ll be offered suggestions to head over to the areas of Apple’s website where software downloads are available. As shown in the second screenshot, the Support Downloads area (maintenance and security updates, point-releases, etc.) can also be accessed this way.

However, it’s not just the Downloads tab that has vanished from Apple’s navigation bar, but also the iPod+iTunes bar. The latter – which used to direct visitors to Apple’s section dedicated to the media-focused application and portable players – is now broken into two separate areas: one for iPods, the other for iTunes.

With the revamped nav-bar, Apple can more broadly describe each pillar of its business, as well as advertise and promote all of its offerings much better. An iPad tab was definitely necessary, especially if we’re to believe that people close to Steve Jobs reportedly overheard the CEO say that the iPad was the most important thing he’d ever done, ahead of the tablet’s official unveiling.