In what year was the Mac App Store launched?

The Mac App Store launched in 2011, opening on January 6 as part of the Mac OS X 10.6.6 update. It gave Mac users a central place to discover, purchase, download, and update software, adapting the successful App Store model from the iPhone and iPad.

Apple announced the service at its “Back to the Mac” event on October 20, 2010, and began accepting applications from registered developers in November. At launch, the store offered more than 1,000 apps, including Apple’s iWork ’09, iLife ’11, and Aperture, alongside popular third-party titles such as Angry Birds and Twitter for Mac.

A common mix-up is confusing the announcement year with the launch year. Apple revealed the Mac App Store in 2010, but customers could not use it until January 2011. The store also changed how Apple distributed its own operating systems: OS X Lion, released later in 2011, was the first major Mac operating system sold primarily through the Mac App Store rather than on DVD.