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Apple is revamping the iPad App Store ahead of tomorrow’s event with optimized Top Charts and new ‘catalogs’ category

In the past few hours we’ve seen some significant changes happening at the App Store on iPad which seem to coincide nicely with the launch event tomorrow.

A few hours ago, a few 9to5Mac readers noticed a new top charts that scroll sideways instead of vertically without having to reload every 25.  The movement is much more fluid as well. (btw, notice how many kids apps are at the top of the list?)

Additionally, Joaquin Ruiz the CEO of Catalog Spree, a catalog app for the iPad, noticed that today Apple added the Catalogs category to the App Store for the iPad – and added his app to the category (right).  ‘Catalogs’ is listed under Lifestyle and is currently empty but with a Retina display on show for tomorrow, it would be surprising not to see a few more catalogs show up.

“The impact of the iPad in the shopping and publication 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 to 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 usecase in the Apple App Store ecosystem.”

Expect there to be some interactive content on display in this area for the event tomorrow.  You can find Catalogs category image below:

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Avatar for Seth Weintraub Seth Weintraub

Publisher and Editorial Director of the 9to5/Electrek sites.


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