Earlier in 2010, Apple previewed and announced the launch of the Mac App Store.  Early Thursday morning, Apple released the official version to the masses – mainly all users running Mac OS X 10.6 Snow Leopard.

The update is available via a Mac OS X 10.6.6 update download in the “Software Update” panel in your finder and according to Apple, the App Store enables you to, “Find entertaining and useful applications for your Mac.; Learn about application features, ratings, and requirements.; Purchase applications, download them, and install them automatically.; Learn about and install updates to applications you’ve purchased.; Learn about application ratings that help you set up parental controls to limit your children’s App Store purchases.; Review and manage your App Store purchases.”

The application interface is very similar to the likes of the ones on iOS devices and iTunes, showing Featured Apps, Top Paid Apps, Top Free Apps and Top Grossing Apps on the home page.  An easy to use navigation bar is made available to users to show Featured apps, Top Charts, Categories, Purchases and Updates available.

To use the app store, you must have an Apple ID.  The login and password is the same as your iTunes Store account, MobileMe account or another Apple account.  In terms of security, only administrators can purchase and install applications.

You can use purchased applications on multiple Mac computers, only requiring you to authorize them by way of your Apple ID.

For those parents out there, yes, there are parental controls.  You can adjust settings to ensure that children only download and use applications appropriate for their age group.  You can limit what apps they can download, or remove the whole App store together.

This definitely seems like a nice addition to the Mac OS X platform, allowing for further flexibility and choice in applications as well as a way of further personalizing your computer.  It maximizes the potential and the wide variety of applications available on-launch shows only further development later on.  The future looks bright for the Mac App Store but whether it will bring new Mac-converts to “Apple-mania”, only time will tell.

I asked on Twitter what people thought of the new Twitter.  Opinions seem unanimous, below are some of the interesting responses:

“@WinstonSih I think it’s a great addition. It gives people another reason to move to a Mac!” – @M17CH3LL

“@WinstonSih The Mac App Store is the greatest thing that could happen to Mac Developers :)” – @EtienneTalbot

What do you think of the new Mac App Store?  Do you like it?  Do you appreciate Apple’s new venture into unchartered waters?  Be sure to sound off in the comments below!