mac.iLounge

It may be a little early for the Mac App Store to start shaking in its boots, but Amazon has launched its own competing service, the Mac Download Store. Split into software and game sections, the browser-based store is starting with around 250 titles, and Amazon’s offering a couple of specials: $5 off of your first paid download through June 1, and a completely free copy of Airport Mania: First Flight.

One of the big selling points is the collection of titles Amazon is offering, including App Store holdouts such as Microsoft Office and Intuit Quicken. Licensing is a little different than through Apple’s App Store, though. You can redownload the titles as many times as you’d like to one computer, but games require a key for each computer—if you run out, you have to ask Amazon for more, and software installs are limited by the developer. They say competition spurs innovation, so it’ll be interesting to see whether and how Apple strikes back.