a web browser can't launch ANPM for such a yum/rpm-link.
It probably can, if you add something to the Options-> Applications list, but ANPM would need to watch for parameters, and decide what to do with them.
I really thought we had this in the RFE list, and I distinctly recall submitting it myself (ability to accept command line arguments to install/remove/etc.), but I just spent a few moments looking and could not find it.
On openSUSE, there is the "one-click install" option for packages. A ymp file comes down, which is essentially xml. This is associated with the YaST installer, and the ymp includes the type of package to be installed, the source repository, etc. At the time of install, the user is queried as to whether he or she wants to permanently add the repository to the system or just use it for the given installation.
More on one-click install may be found
here.
This would be my vote as to how to handle these things as an RFE for ANPM, so we would then parse the xml (which could be downloaded and saved or used to open the default application, supposedly configured as ANPM) and perform the requested actions.
I am sure that ArcaOS will include enough smarts to get all of that done. Meanwhile, any browser, on any OS, should be able to get the ANPM installer, put it on a USB stick, and that will get RPM/YUM set up, and allow the user to work with it. Once FF is included with RPM/YUM, that should get things going. Until FF gets included in RPM/YUM, the user may need to download FF (either ZIP or WPI), and use that. Of course, they may also need WarpIn, or/or UNZIP.
Thanks for the vote of confidence, Doug.

Indeed, we are planning to ship FF, TB, and SM in the distro, all (or none) available as installation choices (FF may be pushed by default; decisions, decisions...).
As for catalogs (or for those of you who prefer the King's English, "catalogues"), the new functionality in wic.exe allows for creating repositories of WarpIN archives, and theoretically, it should be possible for site maintainers to automate building their own WarpIN repo files, making installation/maintenance of WPI-packaged software as easy as RPM-managed software (via ANPM).
Zip/7z/xz/gzip/tar/etc. will always be difficult to manage, and I know of no package manager which handles such "loose" formats.
Of course, none of these things results in a true "app store" in the sense of a desktop application which pulls down package metadata, allows purchasing and installation, and essentially functions as a single-purpose web browser. I did some searching today while waiting for my lunch appointment to arrive, and could not come up with a single hit pertaining to the "rise of the app store on desktop operating systems," but my gut tells me that this all came about from M$' push to make everything a mobile device. Let's face it, managing software and comfortably browsing the web on a phone or a tablet is frustrating. Having an all-in-one "app" (because it's all about the apps!) to do all of that makes sense in that context. I just don't believe it makes the same sense on the desktop, but to each his own.
The Arca Noae store is getting bigger, a little at a time. If anyone knows of some good apps which we should add, please let us know, and we'll see about getting them added. We're also looking at ways to improve the shopping experience (no, I am not trying to hijack this thread - really!).