The Mac App Store is the place to send new Mac owners looking for software. It's a single place, it handles installs and upgrades, it's already installed, and it has a critical mass of usable quality software.

Sure, there are some version 1.0 problems that I imagine Apple will sort out quickly. There's no way to see all installed apps or uninstall them. There is no wishlist function. But the major issue I have is something that persists with the iOS app store, and for which Apple seems to have no solution: how to find particular apps that meet your needs.

This problem exists on the iOS store too: there are 16 thousand puzzle games, and perhaps 50 really good ones. And their lists and features aren't good enough to point them out. The difference with the iOS store is that the average price for most apps is 99 cents, so a couple of mistaken purchases don't break the bank.

The average price on the Mac App Store will be much higher than 99 cents. Though many categories are settling in at $9.99, there are plenty that aren't afraid to charge $30-$60 and higher. These are generally apps that sell for significantly more outside the app store. No one wants to try three image editors at $39.99 to find the one that fits.

There are techniques to allow the cream of the apps to rise to the top:

1. User Ratings/Reviews. The App Store has these, although they may not reach critical mass anywhere but in the US. In Canada, many apps have zero to ten ratings, far below a significant sample.
2. Editorial Reviews. Macbreak Weekly's picks, or the NY Times book review, for example. Let the experts lead us to the good apps. The Featured and Staff Picks within the App Store are too flimsy to serve this concept well.
3. Word of Mouth. This is a grab bag of any external communications medium, where people can let others know of an app they like. Twitter is a good example. The App Store's html pages facilitate this by giving anyone a place to link to.

But there's still money on the table here. The App Store tries to encourage all of these techniques in some way or another, but each ends up rather weak. There is still room for someone to do user ratings better. Good editorial reviews are still locked away in niche podcasts spread over the net. And that leaves places like twitter (and good old google searching for "image editor mac os x") pulling a great deal of the weight. But they're to spread out, there's no money in it.

It's worth big money to figure out how to help people navigate through a product search and come up with the right decision. Some sort of online app finder that's not in a single niche, and that can combine user review content, expert editorial content, and other metrics to help out anyone with any app. That would be something I would recommend to any Mac user.