If you watch the Super Bowl just for the commercials, you may have noticed something. Apple actually made a sneaky appearance in one of the ads, particularly at the end of the new Star Trek movie trailer, when it pointed viewers to Appstore.com/StarTrekApp. It is the first time Apple introduced vanity URLs for its App Store developers.
CNET first spotted that tiny detail, noting that Steve Jobs received the domain “AppStore.com” as a gift from Salesforce CEO Marc Benioff in 2008.
Apple will now provide shortened, vanity URLs to developers when they submit their apps on the App Store, whether on iTunes or Mac. This according to Apple Developer’s most updated documentation on the matter. Unlike what stated in other tech blogs, developers have no hand in creating their own URLs to prevent conflicts, which would have happened if Apple allowed over 800,000 apps to come up with their own URL names.
Developers can also create easy-to-read links to their apps using the App Store Short Links. It uses the AppStore.com base URL, along with a specific name for the app or company name, which developers can use to their websites or marketing campaigns.
As of this posting, typing “appstore.com” (without or without the “www”) on your browser launches the iTunes App Store or the Mac App Store. The same happens if you include the name after the domain, like “www.appstore.com/startrekapp.”
Source: CNET, via TechCrunch
Image source: CBS Interactive
