Amazon's New Mac Download Store Takes On Apple's Mac App Store

[skellener]

The more Amazon (and others) compete with Apple - the better! Good for Amazon taking on Apple. Don't get me wrong, I love Apple products, but competition will keep Apple on it's toes.

 

[spillproof]

Your turn Google.

 

[baryon]

I can't find anything on there, it's really badly designed! I click on Downloads and I get all kinds of software for Windows, and then I click on Mac Download and it takes me to their promotion page. Type in Angry Birds and you get... plush toys...

 

[ChazUK]

Wirelessly posted (Mozilla/5.0 (Linux; U; Android 2.3.4; en-gb; Blade Build/FRG83) AppleWebKit/533.1 (KHTML, like Gecko) Version/4.0 Mobile Safari/533.1)

I'll give it a whirl when it's available to us bad toothed Brits.

 

[eye]

Good job Amazon. I like that Amazon keeps putting heat on Apple and others. More heat equals more reason to keep getting better.

 

[Xe89]

I'll just download from the developer's own site and save the serials in 1Password. It has a very good system of keeping track of your bought software.

And 9 out of 10 Mac applications is using a thing called Sparkle for auto-updating anyway (without the need to launch another app). So I dont see the real benefit of the update mechanism the App store is using.

 

[gnasher729]

Typically, Amazon TAKES %70 as their Cut.

PS: using the phrase "apple tax" invokes my prejudice that causes me to assume you know nothing.. it reminds me of the people who think macs are overpriced and who think %30 is a large cut.

I thought sarcasm should be detected by just reading a post. Ok, next time I'll write sarcasm in bold characters.

 

[gnasher729]

Umm, you do know that Apple uses Amazon's servers, right? Amazon has some of the most reliable servers on the planet..

Google for "Amazon servers crash". Amazon cost some customers real money.

 

[Just "Vinnie"]

Ok, this is nice and all, but without the tight system integration this is really just "Amazon.com can do software downloads."

That's great, really, but it's not exactly the same thing.

Uh... what more do you need?

 

[Gasu E.]

Well, kind of. If you have your app in the Mac App Store you aren't allowed to sell it anywhere else for a better price to cover the 30% hit Apple takes.

Not sure what you mean by "better" price. If you mean "lower" price, that's better for the buyer, but worse for the seller, so I'm not sure how that would "cover" the Apple "hit."

As far as 30% being a "hit", that's a pretty fair deal for a sales channel; quite modest, in fact, for software, where margins are high, and dealers get a pretty big cut.

If you're saying the app creator could sell it somewhere else at a lower price with less of a channel cut, it's not going to be at a major site like Amazon. Now, it's true the app creator sould sell it on their own site and not pay any cut to the channel; however, this would set up the app creator as a competitor to their own sales channel. This is called "channel conflict" and really tends to piss off people in the sales channel; if you do this you may find no sales or distributor will touch your product or company.

 

[bommai]

I don't trust amazon.com at all. They deleted one of my accounts, long time customer 10+ years, over 120 orders on the account and they deleted it because I had 4 returns over the past 12 months. They only restored it after much complaining, and the fact that I had gift certificate balance that is illegal to just "wipe" out. With that wipe-out all the past orders, receipts, everything would be gone.

I wouldn't trust them with my serials or receipt of software.

Never heard of this. I have way more than 4 returns in 12 months but I also bought a bunch of things. I have never had problems.

 

[rjohnstone]

I can't find anything on there, it's really badly designed! I click on Downloads and I get all kinds of software for Windows, and then I click on Mac Download and it takes me to their promotion page. Type in Angry Birds and you get... plush toys...

Here... not so hard.

http://www.amazon.com/Macintosh-Software/b/ref=sv_sw_2?ie=UTF8&node=229643

They even sell iWork and iLife cheaper than Apple does.

 

[slu]

You can't be real. No normal person can have so much hatred and lie so much about non Apple companies.

Yeah. And he is not disgruntled.

 

[southernpaws]

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For us in Europe, it should probably be mentioned that this service is, as expected, of course US only.

Typical...I really dislike big American (sorry, USA not American ) corporations. If it wasnt for us brits, the iPad would either be a brick with a fan, or not exist You can thank Acorn computers, a little known British computer builder for your iPads and iPhones!

Hopefully Amazon will hurry up and roll this out globally!

You mean acorn, the company that was dissolved, survived by subsidiary that partnered with apple to become ARM?

There's a reason few have heard of it. Big companies may be distasteful, but the alternative is pretty regressive. You always have the choice to not support them with your money.

And seriously. Nationalism is ugly regardless of whether it comes from an American or a Brit, so the only dfference between you and the Americans you hate is geography

 

[xxBURT0Nxx]

Let's see how long it takes apple to stop the use of other "mac app stores" haha most likely will be broken in Lion.

 

[rjohnstone]

Let's see how long it takes apple to stop the use of other "mac app stores" haha most likely will be broken in Lion.

The only way Apple can do that is to make OS X only install apps with a digital signature from the Mac App Store.
Basically turn it into iOS.

That would pretty much put Lion in the trash heap for anyone with half a brain.
No one in their right mind would want to intentionally lock themselves out the ability to install apps form other sources.

 

[mtbgtr]

Considering at the present time Amazon has about 217 mac apps with approx 200 of them tutorials/training apps I don't think Apple has to worry anytime soon about competition. I do like how MacBurn is in the Amazon store classified as a Windows app!

 

[the vj]

Now at Mac Donalds

... I see another suit.

 

[jonnysods]

Wait until Lodsys hears about this. They invented the Internet.

 

[AppleMacDudeG4]

Nice try

While I do purchase items on Amazon.com, I am not planning to buy any Mac software from Amazon.com unless they get some sort of exclusive that I could not get somewhere else.

I like the Apple App Store since I can install it on my other machines without any real problems. I am not sure if Amazon.com is going to allow for a similar process.

 

[blow45]

arn (now arnold kim), and the other guy:

come on this an out and out amazon shill, how much are they giving you?

i mean, we can tell, don't you know?

the apple community brought you here, so start thinking and watch out where that pocket money is coming cause it might bite you on your behind.

 

[Macopotamus]

price pressure is good for us, bad for indie developers

 

[rdowns]

I urge you not to do business with Amazon for several reasons:

So you've had a lot of jobs. Who would have thought that?

 

[mingoglia]

Who realistically complains about Apple's 30%? They aren't making a profit from that 30%, that's what it cost them to buy the hardware and pay the employees to keep the app store running.

Amazon will face similar hardware and employee requirements, plus they need to make a profit, because, unlike apple, they're not making the computers the apps run on. At best, Amazon will charge the same 30%, but I suspect they'll take a greater cut than that.




Really? I hadn't heard of that, and I feel like you must be wrong, because many of the games available on the Mac App Store (IE: Braid and Bejewled,) are also available on Steam for Mac.

If you think it takes 30% of the profit of apps to pay for the overhead of the appstore and that Apple isn't making a healthy profit you're either in denial or you're drinking the Kool Aid.

 

[sammyjojo]

After reading some of their FAQ, there are something's that are not as good as the App Store.

Can I download and install to multiple computers?
For video games: Each game manufacturer has a different policy on how many installations are allowed with each product key. If you run out of installations for the product key you originally purchased from Amazon, please contact Customer Service and we will happily provide you with another key at no additional charge. You can install an unlimited number of times for personal use, however additional copies of the game for friends or family must be purchased separately.

For software:Each software manufacturer has a different policy on how many installations are allowed. The user licensing agreement that comes with the software you purchased tells you how many installations and users you are allowed with your purchase.

So basically there is a different policy for every piece of software rather then the unified approach on the App Store.

How do I get patches and updates for my game or software?
Some games and software will automatically look for patches and updates for you. For other products which do not automatically update, you may need to find updates and patches directly on the product manufacturer's website.

No unified patching system.

What if I have computer problems and need to reinstall my game or software?
Go to Your Games and Software Library at www.amazon.com/YourGamesAndSoftware and download the game or software again.

We recommend you create your own backup copy of the install file(s), if permitted by the applicable game or software publisher. You should read any license agreement included in your specific game or software application to understand any restrictions the game or software publisher may impose on this backup copy.

Why are they recommending to make your own backups of software if there is unlimited downloading. Even then no universal policy on the backups, they depend on each publisher.