This isn’t supposed to happen in the App Store ecosystem.

Early Thursday morning, Kaspersky posted a blog entry that details a new malicious app that has made it’s way to both the Apple App Store and Google Play Store. The app’s name is Find and Call, and it’s the first time we’ve ever seen a malicious app make it into Apple’s App Store.

Once installed, the app asks you to register your phone number and email address. Find and Call will also ask if you want to “find friends in a phone book” before discretely uploading your entire contact list to a remote server. The app will continue to upload your contacts, and will SMS messages to those people that contain a link to download the app themselves. These SMS messages show up as if they were sent from your number, so the recipients are much more likely to click on the link. (via Report: Trojan Horse found in the iOS App Store | Macworld)

While I have been to the Mac App Store and downloaded a few apps, mostly free ones, I haven’t done the analysis. That’s what the folks at Mashable get paid the big bucks to do. I draw this to your attention gratis.

About 13 hours ago Jennifer Van Grove

The Mac App Store has arrived and with it comes access to more than 1,000 different free and paid apps. While nearly identical in design to the iTunes App Store for iOS apps, the Mac App Store represents a big shift in Mac application discovery and development.

We’ve already done a walkthrough of the new store. What follows is our analysis of the overall store experience after spending the last few hours exploring the store, downloading applications, comparing the release to initial expectations and ruminating on how it will change the developer ecosystem.

If you’ve yet to experience the Mac App Store, you’ll need to upgrade your Mac OS X software to version 10.6.6. Once you do, you’ll find the Mac App Store waiting for you in your Dock. We encourage you to check it out for yourself and add your thoughts on the new store in the comments section below.

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Just downloaded the new Twitter client in the new Mac App Store. Ice hot!

I knew there was a reason I upgraded to Snow Leopard this week. Eclipsing CES, are we, Apple? Clever.

OSX 10.6.6 available – install now to get the Mac App Store

UPDATE: Apple has decided to jump the gun on the rumoured launch time and the Mac App Store isavailable immediately, with over 1000 apps available to download. We’re installing and will give you our first impressions as soon as possible.

With the Mac App Store due to launch today, Apple has just made an upgrade to OSX available that you’ll need to install first.

Once the new update is set up on your Mac, the App Store is due to become available from 9am PST / 12 noon EST / 5pm GMT / 6pm CET and you’ll find it in the Software Update option in your Apple menu. OSX 10.6.6 is only available to those who have the latest Snow Leopard edition of the OS, which launched in 2009. If you haven’t got that yet, we suggest you run off to the Apple Store quick march.

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AppleInsider | Anticipated Apple TV update seen as stepping stone for connected HDTV

A key component for the Apple television set, Munster believes, will be Apple’s soon-to-launch data center in North Carolina. He believes the massive location could serve as a hub for a cloud-based iTunes service that would allow users to stream their catalog of movies and TV shows.

Munster believes the upcoming Apple TV update will add an App Store, allowing users to download applications to run on the device. He also sees the product having a lower price and less internal storage, as more content is streamed without a need to save it on the device.

The new Apple TV would be an attempt by Apple to fight the set top box model that currently exists in America. In June, Apple Chief Executive Steve Jobs explained that the Apple TV remains a hobby because it’s hard to break in to a market where consumers are used to receiving a cable box for free or for $10 per month.

“The only way that’s ever going to change,” Jobs said, “is if you can really go back to square one, tear up the set top box, redesign it from scratch with a consistent UI across all these different functions, and get it to consumers in a way that they’re willing to pay for it. And right now there’s no way to do that.”

But a new cloud-centric Apple TV is rumored to cost just $99, potentially making the device a much more attractive option for consumers.

When Apple can overcome the “primary” hurdles of set top boxes and live TV, Munster believes that is when the company will strike with an Internet-based iTunes TV pass for $50 to $90 per month. An App Store could also offer games, and services like Netflix and Hulu Plus, built right into the set.