During the last evening the Apple company worked hard at some changes implemented in the App Store of the iPad tablet. For starters, Apple modified the section with the top of the most purchased/downloaded applications from the App Store and the new design allows users to swipe sideways to see all the applications listed there. In the past, we had to load the application lists manually, but the new design is much more intuitive and saves users from a lot of extra work to discover the applications they are interested in.
The second change noticed by many users is related to the inclusion of a new section called Catalog in which absolutely nothing is listed for now. It is speculated that Apple would allow companies to add a catalog in which to list the products available in their own online stores and not only that. To get an idea of what you will find there, you can download the application Catalog Spree(only from the USA App Store) and in it you will have listed various American companies plus a product catalog. Below you have a statement from the developer Catalog Spree that explains why this kind of applications are very important for the App Store.
"The impact of the iPad in the shopping and publishing industries has been massive. Many thousands of apps have been added over the last 2 years to address the consumers need to interact with their favorite books, magazines and brands within an iPad optimized experience. Just last week at eTail in Palm Springs, hundreds of retailers gathered here from thought leaders in the mobile space about how important the iPad is for prospecting, engagement and customer acquisition. Catalog Spree has been the leader in the catalog shopping app space since first launched in late April 2011. Until today (the day before the "iPad 3" launch), Catalog Spree and dozens of other shopping entertainment apps have been categorized in the "Lifestyle ” category in the Apple App Store. Today, Apple has added a new top level category called "Catalogs" to the App Store. As of yet, there are no listed apps in that category, but we expect that to change tomorrow after Apple's "iPad 3" announcement. Adding an app category is not something that Apple does lightly and we believe Apple's decision reflects the importance of this use case in the Apple App Store ecosystem."
We saw what Apple changed for us last night, it remains to be seen what changes it will make in the near future.
