While a handful of "app stores" like Valve's Steam have delivered software to PCs in the past, these stores generally lacked diversity, mostly just offering game downloads.  No PC app store really offered customers the opportunity to buy instantly-downloadable apps of all kinds -- everything from games to productivity software.  That's about to change as Apple is set to introduce the world's first full-featured personal computer App Store on January 6.

Steve Jobs, Apple's CEO, fond of bragging about the company he founded, states, "The App Store revolutionized mobile apps.  We hope to do the same for PC apps with the Mac App Store by making finding and buying PC apps easy and fun. We can’t wait to get started on January 6."

The Mac App Store will come to Mac users in the form of a Snow Leopard (OS X 10.6) update.

The initial Mac App Store will launch in 90 countries and include familiar categories like Education, Games, Graphics & Design, Lifestyle, Productivity and Utilities.  As with the iPhone/iPad App Stores, Apple will keep a 30 percent cut, handing developers 70 percent of app sales.

Apple's press release even included this nugget: "Apple...recently introduced its magical iPad which is defining the future of mobile media and computing devices."

Apple often describes its products as "magical", but it's hard not to give Apple its dues when it comes to its success in pioneering the mobile App Store concept and its equally pioneering effort to port that success to the PC.

Apple won't be alone in this market for long though -- Google's incoming Netbook/Notebook Chrome OS will feature a "Web Store" filled with internet apps.  While that app store has technically launched, its app catalog at this point is very sparse.