The Mac App Store isn't the only way to get apps. Mac users have always gotten apps directly from the developers' websites - or on software installation discs long ago - and that continues. The desktop version of Mac OS X debuted in 2001, so OS X had ten years to develop without a centralized app store.Īll those OS X apps are still around. But the Mac App Store debuted in 2011 as part of Mac OS X 10.6.6. The Mac Software Ecosystem Goes Beyond the StoreĪpple's iOS has had an App Store built into it from the moment it first allowed third-party applications back in iOS 2, released in 2008. You've always been able to install applications from outside the store, and many developers don't include their apps in the store. The Mac App Store isn't like the App Store on Apple's iPhones and iPads.
