Apple did not invent the online store concept - they were not even the first online store that offered downloadable software for Mac OS X.
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Amazon's New Mac Download Store Takes On Apple's Mac App Store
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Apple did not invent the online store concept - they were not even the first online store that offered downloadable software for Mac OS X.
1. The tight integration into the operating system will very soon become a topic of discussion in a court room; this kind of integration should NOT be legal. Ask Microsoft. They always got sued by the competition for the very same reasons, and Microsoft ALWAYS lost. I don't think that iTunes and the Mac AppStore should be allowed to be default parts of Mac OS X. If you download and install them, fine - but the USER should willingly make that decision, it should not be made for him by Apple. It should rather work like the "Choose your web browser" dialog in European versions of Windows 7.
2. The Amazon Store also sells Microsoft products, Apple's own store doesn't. That alone makes the Amazon store more attractive. No matter if you like Microsoft or not -- you won't find many Macs out there without Microsoft products on them. And you cannot buy Office in the Mac AppStore. That's a huge advantage for Amazon.
Why would they not be able to include iTunes? If that's true MS shouldn't be allowed to use windows media player in their OS. Also, there were no other "mac app stores" up to this point so why would they need a "choose your app store" dialogue?
I respectfully disagree with this part of your statement. We have an office of 8 macs and none of them have software from Microsoft installed. Many people now operate with the idea they dont need MS Office when there are better alternatives out there.
Have any of you actually LOOKED at Amazon's Mac Software Download Site?
It's pathetic! 80% of the programs are either language or software TRAINING titles. MS Office and Quickbooks are about the only real programs available.
There is not even the slightest hint of coming close to the selection on the Mac App Store from Apple.
I am an Amazon Prime member, and buy a LOT of stuff from Amazon, but I can already see that I won't be using their Mac Download Store much, if at all.
It's pathetic! 80% of the programs are either language or software TRAINING titles. MS Office and Quickbooks are about the only real programs available.
There is not even the slightest hint of coming close to the selection on the Mac App Store from Apple.
I am an Amazon Prime member, and buy a LOT of stuff from Amazon, but I can already see that I won't be using their Mac Download Store much, if at all.
I'm not a lawyer but I bought the reason why Microsoft got in trouble was because they were doing nasty tricks like disabling Netscape or using Office as a club to try to beat Apple with for concessions or threatening OEMs with bad licensing terms if they install Netscape or whatnot (which actually sounds more like Google with Android than Apple).
don't quote numbers when you can't back them please
I love these kinds of comments that are highly inaccurate. Apple's servers are an asset that house a lot of data, not just apps. It the modern equivalent to warehouse space or distribution centers, and the expense of operations is booked very differently. There is always a cost of doing business. In this case, no employee packing and shipping, no retail theft, etc. At 30% they are making a killing. Their credit card processing fee is probably around 2.5-3%, and an operating cost of 2-5%. Using the highest numbers, that leaves them with a 23% gross margin. The IT staff running the servers is probably a few people compared to hundreds of physical bodies that would be required to staff a distribution center for phsyical product. HUGE difference.
Boxed software gets a company maybe 10-15% if they are lucky, and gross margin doesn't include distribution/shippng costs, paying an hourly employee to stock the item, invenotry of the item on a cycle, theft, etc. At the end, after all costs of doing business are taken into account, they took 3-6% to the bank.
Apple benefits greatly with higher profit margins, and the software vendors are slightly better off too with what they save on packaging, physical media, manuals and inserts, shipping, their own distribution center staff etc.
The only person this model hurts are human beings that someday won't have jobs because of it.
I love these kinds of comments that are highly inaccurate. Apple's servers are an asset that house a lot of data, not just apps. It the modern equivalent to warehouse space or distribution centers, and the expense of operations is booked very differently. There is always a cost of doing business. In this case, no employee packing and shipping, no retail theft, etc. At 30% they are making a killing. Their credit card processing fee is probably around 2.5-3%, and an operating cost of 2-5%. Using the highest numbers, that leaves them with a 23% gross margin. The IT staff running the servers is probably a few people compared to hundreds of physical bodies that would be required to staff a distribution center for phsyical product. HUGE difference.
Boxed software gets a company maybe 10-15% if they are lucky, and gross margin doesn't include distribution/shippng costs, paying an hourly employee to stock the item, invenotry of the item on a cycle, theft, etc. At the end, after all costs of doing business are taken into account, they took 3-6% to the bank.
Apple benefits greatly with higher profit margins, and the software vendors are slightly better off too with what they save on packaging, physical media, manuals and inserts, shipping, their own distribution center staff etc.
The only person this model hurts are human beings that someday won't have jobs because of it.
This can only be good for software developers, and as a consequence for Apple's hardware sales. The more software available, the better. And since so so many people complained about the 30% "Apple tax", I bet Amazon will give 100% of the purchase price to the developer.
huh? why do you think amazon would buy a product and then sell it for 100% of what they bought it for? thats essentially what theyd be doing if they didnt take any percentage.
so? we're all in it to make money, not do clown shows for birthday parties.
w/o apple's initiative (the app store), i wouldnt have had ANY opportunity to make a piece of that $1 billion.
Why?
MS doesn't care where you get software from.
All they care about is you buying their software.
Where you buy it from is moot.
In the EU they have to offer a version of Windows without Media Player for that reason.
