Apple sent developers an email about the change:

Apple Developer

———————————–

Dear [name],

Thank you for making the Mac OS X Download site a great destination with apps that offer users new ways to work, play, learn, and create on their Mac.

We recently announced that on January 6, 2011, the Mac App Store will open to users around the world, presenting you with an exciting, new opportunity to reach millions of customers. Since the introduction of the App Store in 2008, we’ve been thrilled with the incredible support from developers and the enthusiastic response from users. Now we’re bringing the revolutionary experience of the App Store to Mac OS X.

Because we believe the Mac App Store will be the best destination for users to discover, purchase, and download your apps, we will no longer offer apps on the Mac OS X Downloads site. Instead, beginning January 6, we will be directing users to explore the range of apps available on the Mac App Store.

We appreciate your support of the Mac platform and hope you’ll take advantage of this new opportunity to showcase your apps to even more users. To learn how you can offer your apps on the Mac App Store, visit the Apple Developer website at .

Best regards,

Ron Okamoto
Vice President, Worldwide Developer Relations
Apple Inc.

The Downloads section will be used to promote the Mac App Store once Apple pulls the plug January 6th.

The Beatle’s 13 studio albums are available for download from the iTunes Store at 99¢ to $1.29 per song. The band’s complete box set is available for download at $149.

The addition of The Beatles’ catalog to the iTunes store has been the center of much rumor and speculation as litigation delayed the quartet’s music from being released digitally by Apple. EMI, The Beatle’s label was scrutinized by Paul McCartney for their absence from the iTunes Store.

After a long and storied process, The Beatles are now on iTunes. While Apple’s big reveal isn’t iTunes in the cloud or the public release of iOS 4.2, The Beatles on iTunes is big enough.

Visiting Apple’s home page today reveals a teaser, in typical cryptic Cupertino fashion: “Tomorrow is just another day. That you’ll never forget.”

Rumors and speculation have fueled the notion that Apple will be moving iTunes to the cloud. A subscription service become a rumor when Apple purchased LaLa, a music streaming service and shut down the site to new users.

Apple’s announcement tomorrow regarding iTunes is cementing the thought that Apple is revamping Ping, launching iOS 4.2 for iPad and the addition of The Beatles’ catalog. While these seem logical, it doesn’t live up to the hype Apple is pushing for this announcement. Even more intriguing is the time: 7 PM PST. A typical Apple event doesn’t start so early, but then again, this might not be your typical announcement.

However, my thoughts line up with analyst Gene Munster’s. Apple has invested significantly towards building data centers located in North Carolina. Moving iTunes in to the cloud to stream content to an iDevice could supplement flash storage.

The argument could be made that while flash storage is small, slim and doesn’t drain batteries as quickly as hard drives do, they’re still costly and limited in capacity. Being able to access your library of music anywhere versus having to load content for it to be instantly accessible is powerful and would be a great way to bring new life to iTune’s current music distribution model. Apple did it with the AppleTV as costs plummeted when the device become nothing more than iOS powered gadget that streamed purchased content.

We’ll be covering Apple’s announcement tomorrow and giving our opinion on what mystery thing is announced. I’m personally hoping it’s iTunes move in to the cloud or else quite a few people will be disappointing.

I’m not a stock guy, and I have an accountant to handle many of my business items. As such, some of the subtle nuances of the business world are lost on me. Fortunately, I can read. Like this article from yesterday’s Business Insider:

Apple’s stock market capitalization (AAPL) has not yet quite surpassed Microsoft’s (MSFT), but the value of its actual business is now higher.

Specifically, Apple’s business is now worth $200 billion, while Microsoft’s is only worth $197 billion–at least by one simple calculation of enterprise value.*

Wow. That’s a lot of info that I just don’t understand. Thank God they explain it.

A company’s stock market capitalization includes the net value of the cash and debt on the company’s books.  To figure out the imputed value of the company’s actual business, therefore, you have to adjust for the value of those other things.

Continued:

As of yesterday’s stock market close, Apple had a market capitalization of $223 billion.  Apple has $23 billion of cash and no debt*.  Apple’s enterprise value, therefore, is $200 billion (per Yahoo Finance–see clarifying note below*).

As of last night, Apple closed at 222.12 billion, and Microsoft closed at 219.18 billion.

So what does this mean for the devoted Apple faithful? Well first off, if anyone tells you that Apple doesn’t have a viable computing platform, you can tell them to pound sand. Yes, a good portion of their income was derived from iPods, iPhones and other accessories, but it all start with a computer – the same computers now being sold daily.

Or you can look at this in a negative light, and say that Apple wouldn’t be so high if Microsoft hadn’t been sucking so hard in the past few months. I say be positive, but who am I?

It used to be that Apple was frequently chastised for building electronics that were harmful to the environment for all sorts of reasons. Then one day, someone in Cupertino woke up and said, “We’re all a bunch of hippies here, right? Why not help our planet instead of hurting it?” That’s when the process changed a bit.

Since then, Apple has started their own Apple and the Environment website, listing all the ways they perform well for the environment. Granted, not everything is perfect, but they’re on the way up, which is a good thing to be sure.

On that same note, Greenpeace, a company that used to picket Apple, has just released their Guide to Greener Electronics and Apple has shot up to 5th place, a substantial improvement from 11th a few years ago. It may not sound like much, but it’s tough to make green electronics, and the fact that Apple is striving to help out is a step in the right direction.

The revolutionary sound system has arrived! It has a name, it has a subwoofer, it has tweeters, it has wireless-integrated technology, it has superior sound, it has pure qualitative quality: it is the Sonos “ZonePlayer S5” music system.

In an age that has adopted digital music, the Sonos “ZonePlayer S5” cannot be overlooked, or go unheard! Sonos makes listening to digital music simple. For a party, turn on the “ZonePlayer S5,” and control the swinging songs via an iPhone or computer that is safely stashed away from the swaying party dancers and the clumsy fraternizers.

Sonos seems to bring to its company many of the amazing attributes that have made Apple so successful over the decades, minimalist design, functionality, quality, innovative technology and intuitiveness. As one opens the “ZonePlayer S5” packaging, that same mystique surrounding the minimal but attractive packaging of any Mac product takes over…yet it’s a Sonos.

The music player is sleek and small measuring less than nine inches tall, less than 15 inches wide and less than five inches from front to back; it fits almost anywhere. The “ZonePlayer S5” is a shining silvery gray, reminiscent of MacBook Pros and iMacs, and the minimalist design echoes the distinctive speaker set-up within, which contains five speakers: two tweeters, two speakers and a subwoofer.

There is no need to hook up a mp3 player or iPod to the Sonos music system, because the Sonos integrated program, for Mac’s and Pc’s, will allow a listener to access any music folder that is on a computer network, or iPhone. Simply install the software and plug in either a “ZonePlayer S5,” or a Sonos “ZoneBridge” to a router via an Ethernet cable (which is provided). The software disc quickly logs a user into the network and projects the listener’s music to the “ZonePlayer S5” (which is also backwards compatible with all Sonos products).

Once the “Sonos Controller” App is downloaded for free in the Apple Store, the iPhone, or iPod Touch, becomes a customizable remote control. One can access all of the music from the network, make play-lists, tweet their friends, change the volume, or access Internet radio from the palm of the hand (all of this can be done from a computer also).

Sign in to Pandora Radio, and listen to high quality customized radio stations for free on the Sonos “ZonePlayer S5” seamlessly. The Sonos Player is preprogrammed with Pandora Radio, and the album art from Eric Clapton’s “After Midnight Live” album will leap onto a display, along with the song title, song length, artist, and Pandora radio station name.

As a recommendation, the Sonos “ZoneBridge” is a near necessity to have with the “ZonePlayer S5,” as it allows one to take the player anywhere. The tiny four inch square device, the Sonos “ZoneBridge,” is an additional $99, and without it there has to be at least one S5 player hooked up to an Ethernet cable from a router (essentially keeping the player by the router); the entire Sonos system is based on this wireless technology. Though it might seem a drawback, with a single “ZoneBridge” in place, all of the actual players are then free to roam anywhere there is space and an open outlet.

The extraordinary tunes that soar from this unique surround-sound-like device cannot be put into words. The Sonos engineers put all of the necessary home audio components into a single cabinet design with the “ZonePlayer S5” and the result is a home run! The music sings, as though Sonos wishes to battle with Bose for speaker superiority, for the S5 has outstanding sound that stuns.

Where one player is a must have, two or more “ZonePlayer S5” devices is an effective way to provide top-notch audio throughout the home, without the mess of speaker wires, audio components, or even audio cables, because its completely wireless. It is true that the Sonos “ZonePlayer S5” is a bit pricey, retailing at $399, but this pays back tenfold once it is up and running, five minutes after opening the box. It is of the highest quality sound, and if one has a family, or multiple spaces where different music needs to play then multiple S5’s will truly provide a priceless experience.

When the Sonos “ZonePlayer S5” is in multiple rooms, then any iPhone or computer logged in to the Sonos devices can access all of the vast treasures of music and Internet radio. One can control the volume and songs of each room, individually, so go ahead and control an entire house, castle, mansion, or backyard with the palm of a hand!

Grade: A

The physics puzzle game appeals to a certain taste, as one must smartly choose which flick of a thumb will send the cartoon bear on a path to shred its body as much as possible; if a hidden desire to toss virtual rag-dolls to utter ruin exists, then this is an ideal App to buy for $.99.

The game requires some skill, and is not as intuitive as one might assume, given the circumstances: swatting a thumb to pull the bear-doll a certain way to try and achieve points given for the most damage inflicted.

The level objectives include decapitation and total dismemberment, and the instructions say that the “more damage you cause the more fun you’ll unlock,” yet the game can be hard to succeed in.

“iDropDead FE” stands for iDropDead Flower Edition: the people at Apple did not allow the dolls to bleed, so the programmers altered the game so that the bears bleed flowers as morbid circus music rolls on. Choose which hill, maiming ledges, steps and pendulums to send the rag-dolls to, and loose your head.

Grade: B-/C+

iDropDead FE

The latest version of the free App. is so close in appearance to the one for your MacBook Pro, visually, that it is tough to tell them apart. The “News Feed” is an identical, albeit a smaller, look into what foolish mischief your friends and coworkers have gotten into recently. You can now “Like” or “Comment” on something very easily with the seemingly supernatural speed of your fingertip on the “plus” sign.

All of the sections you are familiar with from “Facebook” are here, like the “Profile,” “Friends” and “Inbox” and the way everything is organized seethes intuitiveness. Pictures are uploaded in Milli-seconds by clicking on the camera symbol and the App. constantly updates itself as you move around in it. The only thing “Facebook” is missing is a “Dislike” option.

Grade: A

Check it out.

No wait…that’s not a big surprise…in fact, that’s the biggest UNsurprise of the year.

As you would expect, the Apple Store is down, waiting for all the new goodies that our old buddy Steve is going to have waiting for us after the Keynote. Speaking of the Keynote, live coverage begins in just over an hour.

The start times are as follows:

07:00AM – Hawaii
09:00AM – Pacific
10:00AM – Mountain
11:00AM – Central
12:00PM – Eastern
05:00PM – GMT / London
06:00PM – Paris
08:00PM – Moscow
02:00AM – Tokyo (January 16th)

enjoy!

Yup, it’s turning out to be “Apple Ad Thursday” here on Apple Gazette. Apple has posted 3 additional ads on their site in the “switch” vein for the iPhone. This time the topics covered include checking weather to stop a flight delay, mobile blogging (which I still haven’t been able to do effectively with the phone), and checking an off broadway play fan site.

Yeah, that last one didn’t make much sense to me either.

These ads still, for some reason, just aren’t doing it for me. I don’t really know why I don’t like them – other than the fact that most of the stuff they seem to be talking about makes me feel like the iPhone is being trivialized more than showcased. Whatever it is, I’m already ready for this particular campaign to be over and done with.

What do you think?

Apple has a page on their official site now that covers every single one of the 300+ new innovations of OSX Leopard. The page reveals some new .Mac syncing such as the Dock and the Dashboard, tabbed chat in iChat, photo browsing in Mail, video recording in Photobooth, multi-page PDF creation in Preview…and literally hundreds of cool little things that are going to be featured in Leopard.

It’s time to get excited folks! Leopard is almost here! Click here to take a look at the complete list.

You have to love that.

via MyMac

Do you have an interesting iPhone Story? If so, Apple wants to know about it. You can click here to go to the official form, or you can just call 1-800-764-9941 and leave a voicemail.

No doubt, this will play into a future marketing campaign for the iPhone.

There is a new round of iPhone ads running on TV and on Apple.com. Since AppleTV is my TV these days, I haven’t seen a commercial in a very long time, so if I’m late with this I apologize, but I believe at least a few of these have just started running.

The four ads are “Instead”, “Amazing”, “All the Parts”, and “All These Years”.

I really like this iPhone ad campaign, but I have to take issue with “All the Parts”. It claims that “All the Parts” of the Internet are available on the iPhone – and we all know that isn’t true. Just go to CNN.com and try to watch a video…THAT part of the Internet isn’t on their…neither is ANY part of the Internet that requires Flash of any kind.

The other three I like. It’s also worth noting that Jeff Cannata of the Totally Rad Show is the little picture guy in the Instead ad. Why is that worth noting? Because I love the Totally Rad Show – and I wanted to plug it.

You can view the ads here.

The interesting thing is that they don’t seem to be using an iPhone to do all of this…here, take a look.

This is a screenshot of the iPhone info, that says there are 7.27 Gigs available when the iPhone is empty.

Now, after they sync everything, they show us the bar in the bottom of iTunes that lets you know how much of your device’s hard drive space is taken up. Here’s the one from the video…

So…why do you think that is? Obviously there isn’t a super-secret 80 gig iPhone laying around somewhere. So they must have been using an iPod…but I wonder why? The thing didn’t have a Games Tab, so it can’t be that they’re just using an iPod sync software example…

very strange…

Apple has updated it’s official site with Quick Tours that cover all the features of the iPhone and how they work – including the YouTube application.

These Quick Tours really give you an idea of how the iPhone is going to work, and remind me that – even though I’m a little miffed about the lack of Flash and Java support on the iPhone at launch…there is still a lot to be excited about on this little device.

Head over to Apple.com to check out the new site design. This is the most major site overhaul for Apple.com this century…but the design isn’t terribly different from what we’ve seen in the past.

Click Here to check it out.

UPDATE: Store is back up, and you can now buy Final Cut Studio 2.

The first is a “Flashback” ad where we see Mac and PC as kids, and the second is called “Computer Cart” that shows a series of PCs off to the IT department for maintenance. The third ad on the page is the “Security” ad that has been airing for a while.

Both of the new ads are entertaining, and show that this particular ad campaign shows no signs of slowing down…

Click here to check them out.

Order should start arriving for customers who pre-ordered in the next few days.

You’ll find first look pics and a full review later this week right here on the site.  I’m also going to be experimenting with using the AppleTV as a replacement for my cable for 30 days after we recieve it.  You can find out more about why I think that’s a viable solution here.

And if you’ve been contemplating those rumors about the AppleTV secretly being a DVR, you can find out why I don’t think that will ever happen right here.

Thanks to Shay for the tip.

It may be a little bogged down at first, what with millions of people wanting to watch it all at the same time…so if you have trouble, wait a little while and try again.

It’s well worth the wait

This new index page graphic on Apple.com reads “The first 30 Years were just the beginning.  Welcome to 2007″.  Of course, this has already sent Apple sites into a tizzy about what it could mean.  Most agree that it’s an indication of big product changes this year…presumably starting at Macworld next week.

We’ll just have to wait and see…won’t we?

The 15 and 17 inch models both feature the blazing speed of the Intel Core 2 Duo processors, and feature built-in iSight, iLife ’06, OSX Tiger, and weigh in at only 5.6 and 6.8 pounds.

A 2.16GHz or 2.33GHz Intel Core 2 Duo. Up to 39% faster than its predecessor. A built-in iSight for instant video conferencing on the move. Front Row with Apple Remote to dazzle everyone in the room. Now available in 15- and 17-inch models starting at just $1999. Start your engines.

Click Here to visit the official site