Mac OS X 10.6.6 updates security and introduces App Store

Apple today released Mac OS X 10.6.6 which which increases the stability, compatibility, and security of your Mac.

What’s also very important in this release is the introduction of the long-awaited Mac App Store with more than 1,000 free and paid apps.

The Mac App Store is just like the App Store for iPhone, iPod touch, and iPad. So it’s as easy to find and download Mac apps as it is to add your favorite magazine to iPad or a new game to iPod touch.

The Mac App Store offers apps in a variety of categories. Users can browse new and noteworthy apps, find out what’s hot, see staff favorites, search categories and look up top charts for paid and free apps, as well as user ratings and reviews.

The Mac App Store changes the way applications are installed on a computer — it happens in one step. Enter the same iTunes password you use to buy music and apps on your Mac, iPad, iPhone, or iPod touch. Within seconds, your new app flies to your Dock, ready to go.

The App Store also keeps track of your apps and tells you when an update is available. Update one app at a time or all of them at once, and you’ll always have the latest version of every app you own.

Entirely new apps, as well as current Mac favorites, are available from developers such as Autodesk, Ancestry.com and Boinx. iPhoto, iMovie and GarageBand apps from Apple’s iLife “11 suite are available individually in the Mac App Store for $14.99 each, and Pages, Keynote and Numbers apps from iWork are available for $19.99 each. Aperture 3, Apple’s photo editing and management software, is available for $79.99.

To get the Mac App Store, download the Mac OS X 10.6.6 Software Update via the Apple menu on your Mac.