Apple To Challenge Microsoft & Windows With App Store?

With more than 1.5 billion applications have been downloaded in the first 12 months of operation, Apple's App store is shaping up to become one nasty thorn into the side of Microsoft.

Millions have now been introduced to a brand new way of downloading and installing applications, through their iPhones and their iPod Touch, that proved to be a real eye opener in terms of usability and user friendliness.

Running applications on mobile devices is not something new but Apple controls user experience like no other companies before and ironically makes it easier, safer and more reliable than anything before. The closest thing I've seen to that was Click and Run (CNR), which was launched back in 2002 by Linspire (ex-Lindows) and now part of Xandros.

The danger for Microsoft is that Apple could well extend App store (and by extension iTunes) to the desktop, beyond just movies and songs.

Currently, to install an application, users must first download a file, execute it, follow sometimes very cryptic instructions and maybe register it before being actually able to use it. In some cases, they have to buy a physical media (DVD or CDROM), wait for it to come, put it in an optical drive and load it.