Ahead of OS X Lion, Mac App Store Sales Numbers Still Comparably Small

[adder7712]

I'm disappointed with this approach.

I don't have a credit card nor an iTunes account that I frequently use. Heck, most of my software are freeware and rarely use the Mac App Store. I'm just a student and I have enough money to buy Lion, but on a physical copy.

Something's telling me Apple will eventually release a DVD version of Lion. I can't buy an iTunes Store card because the only form of the store official here is the App Store for iOS devices.

So Apple, no DVD, not buying. No, my connection is sufficient (10 mb/s) and I really don't want to ask my Dad to buy it for me via his credit cards, I want to use my own money.

 

[tinman0]

Right there is the problem. What's more convenient, apps checking when you actually use them or having to remember to run the MAS?

Apps I've gotten from MAS do not check if an update is available so I end up missing updates because the MAS isn't running all the time and it's just not something I think to run regularly just to get updates.

Another issue, buying from the MAS means no trialware and it offers scant data for decision making compared to developer websites.

Is it really that difficult to press the App Store icon once every few weeks?

Seriously.

 

[KnightWRX]

This is why Lion is Mac App Store only. They want to force the MAS into relevance as it is off to a slow start. I for one refuse to use it, preferring Steam for games (the pricing is often better as they have more sales) and open source software for any other packages I use.

 

[Eidorian]

I don't use MAS because I don't want to open it every time to check for updates. It's much more convenient if the program tells me an update is available instead.

I find this annoying as well. I was hoping it would be built into the regular OS X update. If you are going to force the App Store it should be transparent. I do not want to supply my credentials to update the two free applications that I forget to update since it has to be done via the App Store either. Maybe there is a toggle I am missing but perhaps they want to avoid accidental purchases or updates as well. App Store application updates might break something? What?

It feels hypocritical to love Steam but hate the App Store. Then again Steam is also currently my main IM client, game matchmaking client, and there are always community sales, contests, or events. (Steam Summer Camp is going on right now and there are even event prizes for games you currently own, e.g. DLC, gear.) Updates are relatively transparent under Steam, even in the relative trainwreck of Program Files many users complain over.

Personally, I would rather go directly to the developer for my "real" software. Just point me to a download page and e-mail my serial number. (I still get Profcast e-mails even though I have never used the program. Though I am glad the developer wants me to be appraised of their situation.)

The App Store does not really feel that personal like Steam has. Even if they are just another corporation. Valve knows how to target their audience outside personally. Apple feels like they just want my credit card number and to skim off every transaction in their product incest feedback loop.

 

[gallofilm]

I can't use the app store

my macbook pro is 10.5.8 - that means I can't install the app store. I suppose I can't upgrade to lion then unless I physically install snow leopard first. not that smart in my opinion

 

[toddybody]

It's a sign of the times. The focus is on mobile and mobile apps.

Post-PC era, folks.

Most of the development is going into mobile platforms. The Mac, while popular and able to hold its own, isn't one.

It isn' that there's a problem with the Mac App Store paradigm - hell, the App Store model works for mobile. The issue is that there is a shift in focus tailing place industry-wide and market-wide when it comes to consumer-grade products and services.

Your posts disgust me.

 

[derbothaus]

I hate the app store and only use it when I can't get an app any other way. Same for the iTunes music store. Hate with a passion. Not convenient in the least for me. macupdate.com is convenient. No stupid tokens no tying to your "appleID".

 

[Digitalclips]

I use it now and then but my gripe is that the is no connection between apps bought the old way and the app store where updates are concerned. If you have an app, in my case Transmit, you can't get the upgrade via the app store. Panic Software told me they are unable to fix this and the only way to get an update is direct from them. This seems a silly set up if indeed Apple don't allow an update, after all, all it would take would be to link to Panic in this case to check out serial and user ID. It may not be Apple, I don't know but that was what I was told.

 

[ESPN]

Your posts disgust me.

Could not agree more.

 

[catapult]

App Charts may be misleading...

It was interesting to look at the graph that was posted along with this article.

It's important to remember that things aren't always correlated 1 to 1 when it comes to the display of data (Thanks Freakonomics!). For example, my company distributes music into iTunes and our system scans their Top 400 selling charts hourly and we have noticed that (at least for iTunes) they are using a somewhat complex algorithm to determine position placement in their charts.

The algorithm is difficult to decipher (especially considering that they don't divulge this information). And we only know it exists because of the tens of thousands of data points we have been able to establish using our own distribution catalog as a reference. If they are using a similar algorithm regarding the App store, then it would be very difficult to determine the accuracy of the charts (at least as we perceive them).

For example, in the graph for this article, the highest selling day was June 18th, 2011 which shows the developer had sales of 743 units putting it at a position of #3. IF Apple is using the same sort of algorithm that they use for the iTunes music store charts, then its our belief it could be incorrect to assume that there was not another product that sold more than 743 units for that day yet was at a lower chart position. We believe they maybe using other data to determine the chart positions, not just gross sales, as they do for iTunes.

So for iTunes music sales, there appears to some sort of weighting for "acceleration", or in other words, how fast the sales for a product are taking place. There also appears to be a weighting for "stickyness" given to long term total sales for a product (ie: If a product has sold a lot in the past, then it is given more weight in the charts). This "acceleration" and "stickyness" (These are the words we came up with at our company) seem to affect charts positions along with total sales for the day.

Again, I'm not sure if this is what Apple is doing here regarding the App store, but they certainly do it for iTunes. I'm sure there is other data that affects the sales charts...but there is no way to know.

Our 2 cents.

Caleb
Catapult
http://www.catapultdistribution.com

 

[Stella]

The race to the bottom for the MacAppStore will be bad. Software is not cheap to develop. The Mac user base is fairly small in comparison to iOS and windows. If developers / companies cannot make money from Mac software they will simply give up.

If you want Mac software you'll have to pay more than iOS. The prices in the iOS App Store are low - users have been spoiled, but unfortunately some expect to pay the same for more feature spec'd Mac software.

Your posts disgust me.

LTD posts are nothing more than attention seeking. In a recent FCPX thread he was posting messages of "where's my retina display iPad".

 

[tbrinkma]

So while he made $2,500 that day, apple made $1,071 with their 30% cut. I can't figure out why developers would be willing to hand over that much to apple?

That *much*?! Dude, before the App Store, the typical cut for the developer through online stores was 30% or less. The typical developer's cut for a physical copy bought at retail is closer to 20% (often less).

Yes, developers that sell their own stuff on their own site get a bigger cut than 70%, but they have all of the added expenses of running the site, handling payments, and dealing with the associated security concerns. Having someone else take care of that for you can *easily* be worth 30%.

 

[ericmooreart]

Most apps are pretty self contained and you can just zip the app and save it somewhere if you want a local backup (you can download as many times as you want).

Zipping the app wouldn't work because you'd need to find all the files in your home/library and system folders associated with it. And in some cases your invisible /usr/ folder. You would need to re download the app and install

 

[WissMAN]

Wirelessly posted (Mozilla/5.0 (iPhone; U; CPU iPhone OS 4_3_3 like Mac OS X; en-us) AppleWebKit/533.17.9 (KHTML, like Gecko) Version/5.0.2 Mobile/8J2 Safari/6533.18.5)

I've only bought 1 item off of the Mac App Store. It was Reeder and I only got it to support the developer.

Other than that, I'll get Lion and likely never use it again. I think piracy is still a huge issue.

What are your reasons for not using it? Don't purchase/download software on a regular basis?

I am sure it will gain heavy traction after Lion is being used everywhere, and people start buying new Macs w/ Lion preinstalled.

I prefer downloading the MAS version of apps if they exist, much easier for updates/installations. No DMGs to worry about discarding of.

This is the new standard. Hard media is going away; from movies to software. After that, printers will start to drop in sales. Commercial/business will of course be at the tail end of adoption. None the less, it is the new delivery standard. Hard drives, now that wil be around a while. Wait for it, eventually every house will have a 10 TB server and 25/25 Internet.

 

[WissMAN]

Wirelessly posted (Mozilla/5.0 (iPhone; U; CPU iPhone OS 4_3_3 like Mac OS X; en-us) AppleWebKit/533.17.9 (KHTML, like Gecko) Version/5.0.2 Mobile/8J2 Safari/6533.18.5)

I've only bought 1 item off of the Mac App Store. It was Reeder and I only got it to support the developer.

Other than that, I'll get Lion and likely never use it again. I think piracy is still a huge issue.

What are your reasons for not using it? Don't purchase/download software on a regular basis?

I am sure it will gain heavy traction after Lion is being used everywhere, and people start buying new Macs w/ Lion preinstalled.

I prefer downloading the MAS version of apps if they exist, much easier for updates/installations. No DMGs to worry about discarding of.

This is the new standard. Hard media is going away; from movies to software. After that, printers will start to drop in sales. Commercial/business will of course be at the tail end of adoption. None the less, it is the new delivery standard. Hard drives, now that wil be around a while. Wait for it, eventually every house will have a 10 TB server and 25/25 Internet.

 

[tinman0]

I know the article is about the Mac app store and not the iOS app store but still what numbers. Plus just give it time the Mac app store will gain ground but just at a lot slower pace. Either way still doubt they would have made as much if their app was distributed in the "traditional" way.

What we don't know, and never will, is how successful MAS is against straight downloads.

I am willing to bet that MAS has been incredibly successful, and the example of the guy who made $2,500 makes the point rather well. He only made the $2.5k because MAS existed and that Apple pickers highlighted his app, so it drew some sales.

If MAS had not have existed, its doubtful whether those sales would ever have been made in the first place.

Now repeat that with all the other applications that Apple have highlighted at MAS and you start to build some fairly significant download numbers. Maybe not iOS download numbers, but certainly numbers that add value to the Macintosh platform.

 

[berniebentablo]

I like buying from developer sites but I also like the MAS. Just like with the mobile app store I enjoy perusing through what kind of software is out there that I may not run across elsewhere. And it's a good place to read reviews.

I'm pretty picky about software but I have bought a couple of apps from the MAS. And not ALL of them are expensive. QuickCal is a handy app you can get on the MAS that's just a couple bucks.

And as mentioned before, being able to update all the apps you've bought from the store at once is convenient.

 

[Aduntu]

The issue is that there is a shift in focus tailing place industry-wide and market-wide when it comes to consumer-grade products and services.

I love that this sentence means absolutely nothing, but was written with the intention of sounding intelligent and informed.

 

[CyberBob859]

Get used to it

When Macbooks and iMacs don't have an optical drive, and no boxed software will be sold in Apple retail stores, then the Mac App Store will make a lot more sense. Because at that time, either the developer will have to setup their own web-based distribution, payment system, and advertisement to promote and sell their stuff, or use Apple's Mac App Store which will be on every Mac and what Apple will heavily promote and use to sell all their software. Especially if easy install and updates, and favorable terms (buy once, use on up to 5 Macs) attract customers.

The bigger software companies (Adobe, Microsoft, etc.) will be able to sell their own stuff outside the App Store, but everybody else will have some or all of their apps in the Mac App Store either as their primary distribution channel, or to get their name out to point customers to their own website for other sales.

Like it or not, this is the future.

 

[MacSlut]

I simply don't buy that many Mac applications. MS Office, Adobe Creative Suite, and a handful of others.

However, I'm more inclined to buy from MAS than from some of the alternatives. I had too many bad experiences of apps not registering, serial numbers not working, double charges, spam, etc... I like having one central place to pay and download, plus I prefer the MAS DRM over the weird alternatives everyone else uses.

 

[hotcocoa]

Also I like to be able to download trial or demo versions. I don't want to shell out $40 for a major app only to find out it's useless or full of bugs or simply doesn't work at all.

I think this is one of the biggest limiting factor for the MAS. Given the much higher prices typical for MAS titles, trial versions are actually much more important for MAS then they are for the AS. Oddly the AS allows them and the MAS does not.

 

[BillyBobBongo]

I just don't like the concept of the Mac App Store. If I wan't a piece of software chances are that I can buy it direct from the company themselves.

One thing that bothers me is upgrades, major upgrades of versions that is. Let's say I've got Transmit 4 and Transmit 5 comes out. Panic offer a chance to upgrade at a lower cost through their site for owners of Transmit 4. In the Mac App Store my suspicion, as I know of no occurrence of this yet, is that this won't be possible.

I'll buy Lion from the store, because I have to, and that's it.

 

[Ted Witcher]

You haters need to learn how to think different.

 

[Mr. Luigi]

I think there are currently quite a number of reasons why participation in the MAS is less than overwhelming. These have been articulated quite nicely in the posts. Long term, I think the biggest hurtle is going to be cost. For example, I bought the iOS App iAWriter for my iPad. It cost about $5. Pretty expensive for an iOS App. But, it is a well done piece of software design and worth the cost...IMHO. When the MAS came out I was quite interested in getting the MAS version of iAWriter. But it cost a bit under $20 (can't remember the exact price). I just wouldn't pull the buy trigger at that price point. I think market penetration for these Apps at the MAS would improve if:

1. there wasn't such a large discrepancy between the price of these apps at the MAS and the App Store.

2. a discount was earned by customers who bought both platform versions of an App.

 

[iSheep]

You haters need to learn how to think different.

I do! Apple tells me this is the greatest and most magical way to get my Apps.

I think different.