The real coup here is that Amazon has top-tier offerings from Microsoft and Adobe, including Office for Mac 2011 and Photoshop Elements 9. Amazon’s web store also has more current game offerings from major publishers, like Dragon Age 2, Civilization V and Sims Medieval. Game offerings on the Mac App Store tend to be older, and therefore compatible with a wider range of Mac computer hardware.

As with the Mac App Store, much of the user input required for installation is taken out of the process, making it remarkably easy for even beginner users to buy and use titles. Unlike the Mac App Store, though, Amazon’s offering is part of its existing website, and requires no software beyond a web browser to operate.

Titles you buy from the Mac Download Store remain available for unlimited re-download and installation through Amazon’s Games and Software Library, but the number of computers you can use the software on will vary depending on the software publisher’s preference. Downloads all include sizes, and download time estimates based on your connection.

Amazon is clearly interested in the idea of becoming a one-stop app shop for multiple platforms. It introduced its Amazon Appstore for Android devices earlier this year, and it already offers direct downloads for PC software and games. It’s a good time to be in the direct download business, since boxed software sales have been slipping for quite some time.

Apple seems to want to promote the Mac App Store as the preferred distribution method for some of its own software at least, so I wonder whether it will welcome a strong competitive model from Amazon. With its existing customer base and, I imagine, less particular restrictions about the software it offers for sale, Amazon will be an attractive choice for software publishers and developers, and it seems to have the backing of some big fish already.

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It’s that magical moment every week, when we all come together to find out what’s been happening in the App Store.

As the TheAppleBlog raced through the past seven days, like an angry rhinoceros in a flak-jacket, we’ve gathered the best news from the jungle of fact, infused this information with our own vital opinion, and hurled it back at you.

The big news this week was that rockstar-cum-demi-god Apple CEO Steve Jobs dismounted from his golden pony, deciding to take some time to focus on his health issues. Stepping in as acting CEO whilst Jobs recuperates will be a gentleman named Tim Cook.

As the Internets rang out with thousands of voices asking who Tim Cook is, TheAppleBlog stepped forward and boldly proclaimed, “We’ll tell you who Tim Cook is and, furthermore, we’ll tell you why he’s fit to stand at the helm of Apple.”

Plus, while the aforementioned was going down on the Cupertino Campus, elsewhere, Dan Lyons (aka Fake Steve Jobs), appeared live on CNBC and managed to rile the folks at the channel.

Meanwhile, over at the App Store this week, I’ve been looking at Mother Camp, QuadCamera and BoomBox.

Mother Camp ($2.99)
If you’re involved with the kind of projects than need project managers, and those project managers are somewhat web-savvy, who pride themselves on their organizational skills and encourage clear-lines of communication, you’ll no-doubt have come across Basecamp — an awesome tool for collaboration, asset-management and project planning. Mother Camp brings several core-features of Basecamp to your team’s iPhones and it’s so low-priced that it won’t impact on your project budget.

QuadCamera ($1.99)
The iPhone camera is dire. You know it, I know it, we both know I’ve whinged about it enough. However, there are tools that, while they won’t replace even the cheapest point ‘n shoot, will bring that vital injection of fun to your grainy iPhone camera. Lomography geeks may be pleased to note that QuadCamera effectively replicates the ActionSampler camera, capturing a moment by taking four pictures in quick succession.

BoomBox (free)
There are those moments when you’re sat in a bar, chatting with a few friends and, suddenly, you get the urge: to make this occasion even more perfect everybody absolutely must listen to the classic live recording of This Must Be The Place (Naive Melody) by Talking Heads. First get everyone in the bar to be quiet, then activate BoomBox — an app that lets you find and stream just about any tune you can think of, powered by Blip.fm — find the track and gather round as you all groove to the music drifting from your iPhone’s tinny speakers. Another perfect moment.

That’s all for this week, I’ll be back next Saturday with more App Store picks and musings. In the meantime, drop by the comments and let me know which apps you’ve been looking at.

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The BBC’s iPlayer is nothing short of a digital revelation — providing viewers in the United Kingdom with online access to an ever-changing (and free) selection of the BBC’s internationally-revered quality programming.

For an increasing number of us Brit’s, BBC.co.uk/iPlayer is the site we surreptitiously visit on our lunch-breaks at work and the destination for catching up on missed TV in the evenings. Yet upon its initial beta launch back in 2007, the iPlayer was a national disappointment; exclusively for Windows and with more bugs in it than an entomologist’s cupboard.

While iPlayer downloading may have been refined somewhat — Windows users can grab DRM-ridden episodes for play in Windows Media Player – it’s still not an option for Mac users. However, Erik Huggers is the man set to change all that. He’s the BBC’s verbosely-titled Director of Future Media and Technology and a veteran of Microsoft, having spent nine years with the Apple-competitor.

Speaking to Guardian.co.uk earlier today, Huggers talked about the different platforms used to access the iPlayer, “The situations we’re seeing are interesting – mum and dad are watching linear TV in the living room but kids are watching it in a different way … on the iPhone, iPod touch or laptop.”

The statistics for non-Windows platforms are indeed promising. Wii and Linux users account for 1% of the viewership, iPhone and iPod touch owners make-up for 3% and, notably, one in 10 viewers are Mac users. The intention is that by the end of 2008, the iPlayer will feature a native download manager for viewing episodes on the Mac.

Of course, the episode files are sure to have some kind of DRM embedded within them — the BBC has an awful lot of red-tape to go through and that can make for clunky solutions to simple problems. It’s also not clear as to whether the download manager application will have an embedded video player, or if there will be some kind of Quicktime/iTunes support.

Now here’s the really exciting thing for non-UK readers of TAB: Huggers also talked about opening the iPlayer up to international viewers, ”… today we are artificially blocking international access to the iPlayer. That’s a problem, in my mind, and a big challenge for the industry.”

Although Huggers hasn’t outlined a time-line for opening the international flood-gates as yet, the suggestion is that at some point in the future you’ll be able to grab your fix of Doctor Who, Little Britain, Spooks and all the other fine programs by the Beeb, regardless of your global location.

Stay tuned for more iPlayer news in the future, we’ll be keeping an eye on the BBC as they develop the service.

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At the time, the “Get More Episodes…” link seen in the screenshot posted at TUAW didn’t actually do anything, but indicated the future inclusion of direct downloading to the iPhone/iPod touch. Today, German site Flo’s Weblog has posted a new series of screenshots from the latest build that show the download option in the podcast menu is now live and functional. Note that no new build has been released, Apple has simply activated the download option in the existing software. The screenshots show that downloading over a 3G cellular connection is possible, although size limits of 10MB exist, matching the App Store caps.

Judging from the screens, Apple includes support for both audio and video podcast downloading, and seems to be an add-on to the existing iTunes application, as indicated by the bottom menu bar. There is no indication in the screenshots that podcast subscription is possible in the new firmware, or that users can sync their existing subscriptions and downloaded podcasts from their iTunes library. There are however no screens of the updated iPod menu and interface, which is likely where downloaded content would be accessible, so subscription and syncing support should by no means be ruled out.

Also shown off are the new category badges for the App Store, which feature select application icons from software available within that category. It’s unclear whether these will be random, rotating, or advertising spots available from Apple for a fee to developers wanting to promote their apps.

Is podcast support important to you? Does Apple’s inclusion of this feature excuse their rejection of Podcaster from the App Store?

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