I was testing out some games today and found that reMovem Free has a link to the full game in the App Store. What interested me was actually that it took me straight to the App Store instead of opening up a new Safari window with the URL and then taking me to the App Store.

So basically I'm just wondering if there some sort of direct URL I can use in my games to link directly to pages in the App Store? Or was it just that the phone parsed the URL faster than in my test app (in which I am taken out to Safari before going to the App Store)?

The device can tell if it is an App store link and wont launch mobile safari.

Hm. What URL do I need to be using? I keep using this one (http://itunes.apple.com/WebObjects/MZSto...25341&mt=8) and it always pops open Safari.

A ha. The correct URL to use would be this: http://phobos.apple.com/WebObjects/MZSto...=302325341. Then it goes right to the App Store.

Supposedly works.

That does work, but using the itunes.apple.com URL sent me first to Safari and then to the App Store. Using the phobos.apple.com send me straight to the App Store.

Right, but the difference between the two is hard to see. Note the protocol for the URL I posted.

Longjumper you want to be careful with that call, Apple is bound to change it one of these days and break your links. Your best bet will be to stick with a normal phobos call.

While that is certainly true, out of curiosity, I'd like to know why the phobos is less likely to change than itunes?

"itms://" is likely to change since it hasn't been a documented feature of the iPhone SDK. Neither of the URLs themselves are likely to change however since they are widely used in various industries.

It's not a feature of the iPhone SDK, it's a feature of the the iTunes store application. Type it into your Safari web browser on your Mac, and it will open iTunes with the provided link.

This is not going to change...

edit: But let's assume this could change. If you really wanted to make sure nothing bad would ever happen when the user went to buy the full version of your app, you could have your own web service backend that would send a link back to your application when it requests it. Then you could use that link to go to your App Store entry.