Pinterest, the popular digital scrapbooking site, is debuting a new product on Thursday that could make it easier for iPhone and iPad users to discover new iOS apps without having to visit Apple's App Store,

The New York Times.reports the product, called App Pins, is a digital corkboard that enables Pinterest visitors to save, or "pin," favorite iOS apps. Apple fans can search for the company's more than 1.4 million iOS apps easier by typing a keyword like "fitness" on Pinterest. Once the desired app is found, it can immediately be downloaded without ever having to leave Pinterest.

"We can be a really powerful service for app discovery, which is a problem that still really hasn't been solved," Evan Sharp, a founder of Pinterest, said in an interview. "Our specialty is really connecting people to the things they want to do."

The partnership is currently exclusive with Apple's iOS apps, and not Google's Android apps.

Pinterest isn't the only social media platform to offer apps. Facebook claims it helps millions of people discover apps in its News Feed. Last year, Twitter allowed small developers to promote their apps.

Pinterest, however, believes it far exceeds Facebook and Twitter in the ability to promote apps. The company says people use its platform to discover new things to do, see and buy while Facebook is used to connect with friends, and Twitter is primarily about news and public discourse.

More than 75 percent of Pinterest's use comes from mobile device users who are more able and willing to download new apps, according to the company.

In the past, Apple has experienced difficulty providing adequate app search in the company's gigantic repository. Apple's 2012 acquisition of app search company Chomp allowed it to introduce a menu that shows which App Store apps are trending and gave users the ability to search for apps by categories and sub-categories.

In addition to App Pins, Apple has introduced its own curated App Store account on Pinterest. It will use an in-house team to promote apps that will vary by theme, season and the selections of so-called "guest pinners."

Pinterest told The New York Times it does not currently have any plans to make money directly from App Pins.

Since Pinterest's launch in March 2010, French social media agency Semiocast estimates that the company has 70 million users worldwide.

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