Vanity URLs for AppStore.com Debut in Super Bowl Commercial

MacRumors · Feb 3, 2013

Apple introduced App Store Short Links a few days ago, giving developers a way to promote their apps with easy to remember App Store URLs.

Provide a simple way for users to find your apps with easy-to-remember App Store Short Links. Using an AppStore.com URL that includes your app or company name, you can create links to a single app or all of your apps. These links are accessible worldwide and will automatically direct users to their country's respective App Store or Mac App Store.

As noted by CNET, the feature made its public debut during a Super Bowl commercial for the upcoming movie Star Trek: Into Darkness.

At the end of the commercial, there is a promotion for the film's companion app, directing viewers to AppStore.com/StarTrekApp. This link takes users to the app page in the App Store, functioning in the same way as the traditional itunes.apple.com link.

According to Apple's Developer notes, the vanity URLs will be assigned to apps when they are submitted to the iTunes App Store or the Mac App Store.

As Apple points out, the shortened links are ideal for developers who want to share an app in a print ad, a TV or radio spot, an app trailer, or on a billboard.

The simple domain names can be directed towards individual apps or all of the apps a company produces. In demand names that result in naming conflicts will result in a search page, so Apple is encouraging developers to create unique names for apps to prevent future problems.

Article Link: Vanity URLs for AppStore.com Debut in Super Bowl Commercial

ZackVLion · Feb 3, 2013

The link in the article doesnt work..It should be appstore.com/StarTrekApp with no www in front of it.

rman726 · Feb 3, 2013

ZackVLion said:
The link in the article doesnt work..It should be appstore.com/StarTrekApp with no www in front of it.

It worked for me. I don't see any www. Maybe the editor who posted it realized his mistake in the 5 minutes since posting it?

mrsir2009 · Feb 3, 2013

Cool feature

I think Apple did this to replace the weird online iTunes store thingy that people normally get directed to when people link to an app online.

ArtOfWarfare · Feb 3, 2013

So can existing apps have these nifty new links?

Nermal · Feb 3, 2013

ZackVLion said:
The link in the article doesnt work..It should be appstore.com/StarTrekApp with no www in front of it.

I love how the title tag says "bye bye" if you go to http://www.appstore.com

mrsir2009 · Feb 3, 2013

Nermal said:
I love how the title tag says "bye bye" if you go to http://www.appstore.com

It's an inside job!

kjs862 · Feb 3, 2013

Pretty cool!

spacepower7 · Feb 3, 2013

I guess this is why Apple wanted to trademark "App Store" and prevent Amazon from using it. Maybe if they used this AppStore.com site before the case start, they may have that part of the lawsuit.

lolkthxbai · Feb 3, 2013

spacepower7 said:
I guess this is why Apple wanted to trademark "App Store" and prevent Amazon from using it. Maybe if they used this AppStore.com site before the case start, they may have that part of the lawsuit.

You know, I was thinking the same. Could this be used as a point to fight the trademark suit?

mrsir2009 · Feb 3, 2013

bjsterilite said:
You know, I was thinking the same. Could this be used as a point to fight the trademark suit?

Maybe not now, as they could've simply done it for the reason of winning the trademark suit. Shoulda done it earlier...

spacepower7 · Feb 4, 2013

bjsterilite said:
You know, I was thinking the same. Could this be used as a point to fight the trademark suit?

It might possibly be used in an appeal, if it's even allowed to be used. But then again it might have been use in the trial but under seal, bc that hadn't started using it yet.

As for that lawsuit, it was interesting for Amazon to change from "Marketplace" to "App Store"

Also interesting when MS joined Amazon to fight the trademark for "AppStore" or "App Store" whichever the phrase was, there was much speculation about an Apple response to MS.

The media speculation was that Apple could invalidate the MS Windows trademark bc it was generic and Apple had used the term in Mac documentation before MS began work on Windows.

Any which way, seems like Apple could have easily done this new website thing years ago, and they'd have better legal footing.

FoxMcCloud · Feb 4, 2013

lets just hope this leads to being able to browse the app store and install apps straight to the phone from the browser, as well as see what iTunes content you own and what apps are currently on your devices.

You know, like Google have been doing for awhile now.

Nightarchaon · Feb 4, 2013

just annoying to me, click on link, wait 20seconds, get told you cant access the site out side the USA,

and again apple, this is why the USA is the only market your number one in and all the others your losing out to Android.

Apples view of the world seems to follow the USAs sporting view of the world, i.e the world series, is USA only, not the actual, you know, WORLD.

wonderspark · Feb 4, 2013

I hope I can follow that link to get the app for my Android phone.

Habakuk · Feb 4, 2013

App Names

There are some apps with really long names like

TOP Files | PDF reader. Documents & Files storage with Dropbox, Google Drive & SkyDive support. View, download and upload images, videos, pdfs, office docs: docx, powerpoint, spreadsheet. Usb disk and cloud file management.

Obviously developers can insert a novel as a name. The "normal" URL is

https://itunes.apple.com/app/top-files-pdf-reader.-documents/id589014207?mt=8

(BTW free for a limited time.) What's the "new" URL?

TylerL · Feb 4, 2013

Nermal said:
I love how the title tag says "bye bye" if you go to http://www.appstore.com

Even better, the body of that page says:

Code:

<body>
Bye Bye  You shouldn't be here.
</body>

KieranDotW · Feb 4, 2013

Nightarchaon said:
just annoying to me, click on link, wait 20seconds, get told you cant access the site out side the USA,

and again apple, this is why the USA is the only market your number one in and all the others your losing out to Android.

Apples view of the world seems to follow the USAs sporting view of the world, i.e the world series, is USA only, not the actual, you know, WORLD.

Works in Canada...

thewitt · Feb 4, 2013

Nightarchaon said:
just annoying to me, click on link, wait 20seconds, get told you cant access the site out side the USA,

and again apple, this is why the USA is the only market your number one in and all the others your losing out to Android.

Apples view of the world seems to follow the USAs sporting view of the world, i.e the world series, is USA only, not the actual, you know, WORLD.

No problem from Malaysia

The Phazer · Feb 4, 2013

KieranDotW said:
Works in Canada...

Doesn't work in the UK.

Studio's fault of course, but bad business development work with Apple to partner with US only spots to show off the new feature. Which is not surprising after the failures to work well with others that were Passbook and Lightning.

applesith · Feb 4, 2013

ZackVLion said:
The link in the article doesnt work..It should be appstore.com/StarTrekApp with no www in front of it.

WWW should not make a difference. That's embarrassing for any website this day in age to have the www problem.

KdParker · Feb 4, 2013

nice. Will make it easy to promote your apps.

SockRolid · Feb 4, 2013

Apple: We couldn't trademark "App Store," but we got the DOMAIN!

Amazon: Dang. Is AppStoreWannabe.com available?

mrsir2009 · Feb 4, 2013

Nightarchaon said:
just annoying to me, click on link, wait 20seconds, get told you cant access the site out side the USA,

and again apple, this is why the USA is the only market your number one in and all the others your losing out to Android.

Apples view of the world seems to follow the USAs sporting view of the world, i.e the world series, is USA only, not the actual, you know, WORLD.

Works for me in New Zealand... What country are you in?

----------

applesith said:
WWW should not make a difference. That's embarrassing for any website this day in age to have the www problem.

+1. www is totally pointless and should be irrelevant.

Nermal · Feb 4, 2013

TylerL said:
Even better, the body of that page says:

Code:

<body> Bye Bye You shouldn't be here. </body>

Heh, didn't notice that!

mrsir2009 said:
Works for me in New Zealand... What country are you in?

That's interesting; it doesn't work for me unless I use my US iTunes account.

Vanity URLs for AppStore.com Debut in Super Bowl Commercial

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