A while back, Apple purchased Chomp, an app discovery startup, in order to improve search functionalities within their iOS App Store. This technology is now being utilized in the iOS6 beta, where the layout for searching within the App Store application has been completely overhauled.

On the iPhone, search results come up in a tile-style fashion, which can be swiped horizontally to browse through the results. The iPad has received a similar treatment, with six of the app tiles visible on the screen at a time.

In addition to this, the Top Charts feature within the app has also been altered, with three  separate columns displayed for the Paid, Free and Top Grossing charts. This is a change from the previous layout, whereby all three categories were completely separate from one another.

9to5mac has noted other changes regarding other aspects of the App Store and iTunes Store apps:

Also adding to the iOS 6 App Store updates, Apple has enabled the Genius recommendation section this evening, providing users with apps that may be in their interest to download. Furthermore, the purchased section has also joined the party, displaying all the apps a user has downloaded to their account, making it easy to retrieve favorite apps. Last but certainly not least, the iTunes Store has been updated with the ability to once again search for podcasts. When a podcast link is opened, it requires Apple’s Podcast app to listen. All three features were available in the previous version of the App Store on iOS 5, so there’s really nothing new here, except that Apple has finally chosen to give them the light of day within iOS 6.

Sources: 9to5mac, MacRumors, Cult of Mac