14 DAY TRIAL // The service isn't online or anything. However, it was, for a few minutes, a few days ago. Modmyifone.com is reporting that Drunkenbass (of monsterandfriends.com) was bored and started messing around with his iPhone, when, all of the sudden, he was connected to the AppStore.
The source reveals that, instead of getting the usual "cannot connect" message, the AppStore just loaded its user interface, sporting details about a bunch of actual applications. Sure enough, as more sources imply, Apple was probably just running tests to see how the service performs online.
Modmyifone posts (screens and everything): "Have you been wondering what the appstore will look like? Drunkenbass of monsterandfriends.com (known for the first video recording on the iPhone) has been kind enough to share the first screenshots of the upcoming appstore with us here ... He was just bored pressing buttons on his phone and suddenly instead of getting the normal 'cannot connect' message that he had previously encountered, appstore launched revealing the appstore UI."
As the same source informs, Drunkenbass first had to go through the Genres and Top 50 categories to get to the apps themselves. The screens look legit to us, having seen the Steve Jobs' March 6 iPhone Software Roadmap presentation. Everything Jobs said is present within the two screens available to the left (click to enlarge).
According to Apple's CEO on March 6 at the Town Hall event in Cupertino Calif., with the App Store, developers will be able to reach every iPhone user out there. The same man claimed that developers would want to make their apps available free of charge, which makes perfect sense as they want to get them in the hands of as many iPhone users as possible.
The App Store will sport a featured section, categories (for both games and apps), such as business, education, entertainment, finance, games, health and fitness, lifestyle and music. Users will also be able to browse a categories section inside categories, top downloads and the most popular apps that are being downloaded. A search feature will also be implemented, while the AppStore will also notify users every time there's an update available for existing apps on their devices.
Everything mentioned above will be available come June 2008, when Apple plans to roll out iPhone firmware version 2.0.
