Guidelines for the Mac App Store arrive

Mac App Store gets regulated
Mac App Store gets regulated

Apple has revealed its guidelines for the new Mac App Store and it seems that Jobs and co are using the iOS App Store as a template.

The Mac App Store was announced alongside the new Mac OS X 10.7 operating system this week, at Apple's Back To The Mac event.

Devs are set to get the same deal as they do with iPhone and iPod apps.

There will be a 70/30 split on profits (in favour of the developers) and every app which is offered on the store will have to go through a stringent reviews process before it goes live.

App Store rules

Unlike Android Market, the apps will have to be fully functional before they are allowed on the store.

Apple is saying no to any beta, demo, trial, or test versions of the applications.

It is also not allowing any applications which portrays realistic images of people or animals being killed or maimed, shot, stabbed, tortured or injured.

And apps aren't allowed to have misspelled Apple product names in the title. Apple also won't allow pornographic material on the Mac App Store, or an interface that is "complex or less than very good".

The reviews guidelines are password protected for developers at the moment, but The Unofficial Apple Weblog has posted some of the more interesting rules and regulations for you to read.

Marc Chacksfield

Marc Chacksfield is the Editor In Chief, Shortlist.com at DC Thomson. He started out life as a movie writer for numerous (now defunct) magazines and soon found himself online - editing a gaggle of gadget sites, including TechRadar, Digital Camera World and Tom's Guide UK. At Shortlist you'll find him mostly writing about movies and tech, so no change there then.