The first of Apple's new short URLs to promote the App Store went big with public exposure during the Super Bowl on Sunday, when an ad for the upcoming Star Trek into Darkness movie showed a link to a companion app at AppStore.com/StarTrekApp. Apple had recently alerted developers that it created the service in order to make it easier to promote apps with an easier-to-remember Web address, but the URLs had not received any real screen-time before yesterday's Super Bowl game.

According to a tech note for developers, AppStore.com URLs are generated automatically and can link to individual apps or to a developer's landing page. The links will redirect to whichever country's App Store a user is linked to, and they can also link to Mac App Store apps by slightly modifying the URL.

Because the links are generated automatically, a URL could point to multiple apps with the same name. In such cases, the URL will load a search listing for the particular name. Apple recommends that developers carefully choose unique app names to prevent conflicts. Apple also noted that AppStore.com effectively replaces short links that previously used itunes.com.

As noted by CNET, the AppStore.com domain name wasn't originally owned by Apple. According to a 2011 Bloomberg TV interview with Salesforce.com CEO Marc Benioff, Apple CEO Steve Jobs had given him advice in 2003 to build an ecosystem around his enterprise CRM product. That advice resulted in the company's "App Exchange." But early on in its development, Salesforce.com used the name "App Store," so the company had registered a corresponding domain name and trademark. When Jobs announced the App Store for iPhone in 2008, Benioff gave both the trademark and domain to Apple as a gift to thank Jobs for his advice.