Apple’s Mac App Store for OS X has reportedly crossed the 10,000 application milestone this week. It launched in early 2011 with just over 1,000 applications available for download.
The achievement was noted on Friday by French Apple site MacGeneration, which uses its own tracking system to analyze App Store content. According to their data, the milestone was reached, although Apple has not publicly announced it.
The Mac App Store’s highest profile release to date has been OS X 10.7 Lion. The operating system launched last summer exclusively on the Mac App Store. Lion has been the most popular and highest grossing paid application on the store. The next version of OS X, 10.8 Mountain Lion, is expected to hit the store this summer.
The Mac App Store has been a huge part of Apple’s move to discontinue sales of boxed software in its retail stores. Products no longer available in boxed form include iWork, Aperture, and iLife.
The Mac App Store is also seen as a crucial part of Apple’s strategy for Mac hardware, as it has been reported the company would like to remove spinning disc drives from its next generation of MacBook Pros.