ix.Mac.MarketingName: A Mystery Wrapped in An Enigma?
Posted 04/14/2011 at 6:02am
| by J.R. Bookwalter
In addition to some glitches downloading apps from the App Store on Wednesday night, you may have noticed a new addition to the Requirements section on every single app: “ix.Mac.MarketingName.” Is Apple about to launch a new device or has the App Store simply lost its mind?
TiPb is reporting that the iTunes App Store started showing a mysterious new device under the Requirements section of each app listing. As you can see from the attached screenshot, this particular app is “Compatible with iPhone, iPod touch, iPad and ix.Mac.MarketingName” -- wait, what?
“That’s almost certainly a glitch of some kind in the system and I expect Apple will fix it ASAP but it does make for a fun question,” TiPb reported. “If there is indeed an ‘ix’ in the pipeline, what could it be? An app-compatible Apple TV? Cross-compatible Mac Apps? A 5 to 7-inch device? Something we haven’t imagined yet?”
The most likely scenario appears to be something Mac-related, given that the computer’s name is sandwiched inside the placeholder. Could Apple be planning to bring some kind of Mac App Store emulator app that allows you to use your iOS apps on Mac OS X? A strange concept to be sure, but if it’s indeed just a glitch, it has yet to be fixed after first popping up on Wednesday night.
We’ll probably all know one way or another soon enough -- but in the meantime, feel free to speculate in the comments below!
Follow this article’s author, J.R. Bookwalter on Twitter