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Apple Begins Accepting Mac App Store Submissions

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Apr 12, 2001
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Apple has started accepting Mac Apps for their upcoming Mac App Store. The Mac App Store was announced in October as part of Mac OS X Lion's feature set. Apple quickly revealed that the Mac App Store would also be coming to existing Mac OS X Snow Leopard users as well and would launch in 90 days from the time of the announcement.

The Mac App Store mirrors many of the submission guidelines and policies as the iOS App Store. The Mac App developer program is $99/year just like the iOS App developer program.

Article Link: Apple Begins Accepting Mac App Store Submissions
 
Article Link
https://www.macrumors.com/2010/11/03/apple-begins-accepting-mac-app-store-submissions/
It will be interesting to see how this works out.

My main concern is why big name software developers would have any interest in the app store. What do they need an app store for? If they submitted their apps to the app store, all they would be doing it giving 30% to Apple. Why not just keep selling it through their own website?
 
ECUpirate44 said:
It will be interesting to see how this works out.

My main concern is why would big name software developers have any interest in the app store. What do they need an app store for? If they submitted their apps to the app store, all they would be doing it giving 30% to Apple. Why not just keep selling it through their own website?
Click to expand...

Same reason they give more than 30% to most of the other retailers that they deal with. Exposure. And don't underestimate the importance of minimizing the number of steps between a developer and a customer's money.
 
Wirelessly posted (Mozilla/5.0 (iPod; U; CPU iPhone OS 3_1_3 like Mac OS X; en-us) AppleWebKit/528.18 (KHTML, like Gecko) Version/4.0 Mobile/7E18 Safari/528.16)

Can't wait to see the first submissions. :)
 
skellener said:
People still buy software at a retail store?
Click to expand...

+1 Many companies have their software available for download right on their website like the little app factory. All the user does it purchase the license directly from the site. What part of that is not profit for the software company? The Mac app store makes Apple the middle man. Why would a larger developer need Apple for advertisement?
 
BaldiMac said:
Same reason they give more than 30% to most of the other retailers that they deal with. Exposure. And don't underestimate the importance of minimizing the number of steps between a developer and a customer's money.
Click to expand...

Yes, I'm very curious how the Mac App Store will turn out. The iTunes-ification of markets has brought down so many walls between producer and consumer. Sure, each music label could set up their own online store, but it wouldn't reach nearly as many people.

The iPhone was a slightly different story, since it has always been impossible to install third-party software outside of the App Store (legally, anyway). I wonder how big the market is for people searching for Mac software, but don't want to go to retail, visit the company's own website, etc.

Personally, I would at least give it a shot. I hate not knowing if an app/company is legitimate - I would hate to sign up, give my credit card to a different company each time I download a program. The App Store process is so elegant - no need for another account, software is inspected for legitimacy, reviews are posted, updates are automatically displayed, installation is more or less automatic. Brilliant! :apple:
 
ECUpirate44 said:
+1 Many companies have their software available for download right on their website like the little app factory. All the user does it purchase the license directly from the site. What part of that is not profit for the software company? The Mac app store makes Apple the middle man. Why would a larger developer need Apple for advertisement?
Click to expand...

Simple, more paying customers :)

If people have to go to each individual websites to "FIND" the link and pull out the credit card to download - that's a lot of steps, APP stores would be 1 click download and impulse buy.
 
Poochi said:
Simple, more paying customers :)

If people have to go to each individual websites to "FIND" the link and pull out the credit card to download - that's a lot of steps, APP stores would be 1 click download and impulse buy.
Click to expand...

Good Point. :)
 
ECUpirate44 said:
+1 Many companies have their software available for download right on their website like the little app factory. All the user does it purchase the license directly from the site. What part of that is not profit for the software company?
Click to expand...

The part that goes to the payment processor. And the part that goes to the bandwidth provider. And the part that goes to the webmaster. And the part that goes to marketing.

Oh. And all the development costs. And all the overhead costs.

The Mac app store makes Apple the middle man.
Click to expand...

Just like any other retailer.

Why would a larger developer need Apple for advertisement?
Click to expand...

Why does Adobe sells their products at Amazon or any of the hundreds of other retailers that they see their software at in boxes?
 
jav6454 said:
Let's see how successful this is. Also, anyone wants to pick up a bet Microsoft will follow this same model?
Click to expand...

I doubt it, simply because of a ton of legal reasons.

I'm more interested to see whether Apple will keep this Mac AppStore "optional" after Lion - and I don't trust them.
 
Just so it's clear for everyone, this is the Mac App Store. For Mac apps. Not to be confused with the iPhone App Store, for iPhone apps. Any similarities between the two are purely coincidental.
 
hismikeness said:
That, and push updates.
Click to expand...

I don't see any advantages to push updates over the model many existing Mac apps use now. I mean, come on - currently you're notified of an update, and if you approve it the app downloads, self-updates, and relaunches all on its own. Push won't be any easier than that.

While I don't expect the "Mac App Store" to crash and burn, I have a feeling it's going to end up being like the Apple TV. Just enough activity to keep alive, but kind of a niche product that most users ignore. Actually I bet a lot of people will use it once or twice during the first couple weeks just to see what it's all about. But it's just not that hard to buy apps for your Mac right now!

Time will tell, in any case.
 
Westside guy said:
I don't see any advantages to push updates over the model many existing Mac apps use now. I mean, come on - currently you're notified of an update, and if you approve it the app downloads, self-updates, and relaunches all on its own. Push won't be any easier than that.
Click to expand...

You're obviously not a developer (no offense intended, just a statement). Developers currently have to code into their apps the update mechanisms you talk about, which is a lot of overhead. Plus they have to keep the servers up that do these updates.

With the Mac App Store, it's all built in. It takes it out of the developers hands and gives them more time for real coding, thus more features quicker, resulting in more satisfied customers, higher revenues, and less expenses.

Westside guy said:
While I don't expect the "Mac App Store" to crash and burn, I have a feeling it's going to end up being like the Apple TV. Just enough activity to keep alive, but kind of a niche product that most users ignore. Actually I bet a lot of people will use it once or twice during the first couple weeks just to see what it's all about. But it's just not that hard to buy apps for your Mac right now!
Click to expand...

Completely disagree. I think long term this will change the way people buy software. Short term it might be slow to catch on, but eventually people will look on the Mac App Store first, then other retail channels second.

Ethan
 
ECUpirate44 said:
+1 Many companies have their software available for download right on their website like the little app factory. All the user does it purchase the license directly from the site. What part of that is not profit for the software company? The Mac app store makes Apple the middle man. Why would a larger developer need Apple for advertisement?
Click to expand...

Billing and card processing systems cost money. Distributing and checking serial numbers also costs money. Apple solves both.

Winni said:
I'm more interested to see whether Apple will keep this Mac AppStore "optional" after Lion - and I don't trust them.
Click to expand...
Yes, because you don't like Apple. We've established that.
 
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