Apple's Mac App Store is now open for business with more than 1,000 free and paid apps. The store brings the Apple App Store for iOS experience to the Mac, so you can find new apps, buy them using your iTunes account, download and install them in just one step.

The Mac App Store is available for Snow Leopard users through Software Update as part of Mac OS X 10.6.6. It will be built into next summer's Mac OS X Lion.

“With more than 1,000 apps, the Mac App Store is off to a great start,” says Apple CEO Steve Jobs. “We think users are going to love this innovative new way to discover and buy their favorite apps.”

The Mac App Store offers apps in Education, Games, Graphics & Design, Lifestyle, Productivity, Utilities and other categories. Users can browse new and noteworthy apps, find out what’s hot, see staff favorites, search categories and look up top charts for paid and free apps, as well as user ratings and reviews.

Entirely new apps, as well as current Mac favorites, are available from developers such as Autodesk, Ancestry.com and Boinx. iPhoto, iMovie and GarageBand apps from Apple’s iLife® ‘11 suite are available individually in the Mac App Store for $14.99 each, and Pages, Keynote and Numbers apps from iWork are available for $19.99 each. Aperture 3, Apple’s photo editing and management software, is available for $79.99.

To get the Mac App Store, download the Mac OS X 10.6.6 Software Update or visit http://www.apple.com/mac/app-store . To find out more about developing for the Mac App Store visit developer.apple.com/programs/mac .