The iPad App Store is set to launch on April 3rd, but we have managed to access the entire thing a little early and we would like to share some of its secrets with you.
Before we get into any major details, the iPad App Store features the exact same bottom tab bar layout as iPhone's App Store, so you won't accidentally be jumping into any unintended pages. What a relief, huh?
The screenshot below displays the iPad App Store's What's Hot page, which now includes coverflow at the very top. The list is currently populated with iPhone apps, but iPad apps will eventually sprinkle in once the store is launched.
The Featured page is similar to the What's Hot page -- coverflow and all -- and it is also populated with iPhone apps at the moment. We are expecting it to focus on iPad apps when the store launches.
A lot of people have questioned how iPhone apps will be discerned from iPad apps. A good example would be the Top Apps lists. Will the apps all be jammed into one big list? The answer is a definite no.
As you can see in the image below, the Top Paid and Top Free iPad Apps lists are displayed side-by-side in groups of 10 with the ability to show more apps. Directly below those lists is the Top Revenue iPad Apps list. It's very clear that these are iPad-specific lists. You can toggle between the Top Paid and Top Free iPad and iPhone lists via a button conveniently located at the bottom of each page. This is true for the category pages as well.
That same concern for the jumbling of iPad and iPhone apps in Top Apps lists and categories has also frequently been expressed for app searching. And once again, everything in the App Store will be neatly separated, even when searching.
When searching for apps, results yield both iPhone and iPad apps. The two are clearly separated with iPad apps being at the top and iPhone apps on the bottom. If your search yields no iPad apps, the App Store will still display the iPad apps section, just with the message "Your search had no iPad Apps results."
The iPad App Store's app details page looks nearly identical to the iPhone's. Here you have all of the app's information, including what devices they are compatible with. At this time you are unable to view screenshots in full-screen mode, although that could change at launch, and it should since this would be a huge oversight on Apple's part.
That's it, that's how the iPad App Store is laid out. Apple still has ample time to change a lot of items, and they just may, but it at least eases some concerns on how the two devices will share the same store.
Stay tuned to the site for updates. We will be providing as many detailed iPad app previews as we can in the near future.
