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Apple Prevents Omni Group From Offering Discounted Mac App Store Upgrades
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On one hand, it's Apple's right to run the MAS however they see fit. On the other, it's the developers right to call them out and question some of their particularly stupid rules or shortsighted policies.
Yeah, Apple generally does have good reasons for doing the things they do. They're not doing it to be mean. But they also have a tendency to throw the baby out with the bathwater when it comes to security and control of their platforms. Keeping your third party developers from offering upgrade incentives to their customers is stupid no matter how hard you try to justify it, and something Apple should reconsider.
they did ask me b4 writing Rules .. Something is a rule doesn't make it right ..
iCloud SDK says hi
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No, race to the bottom for apps is what Google is doing, it hurt developers and customers. What Apple is doing is what is best for consumers
It is amusing that the same people calling Amazon evil for "devaluating the value of ebooks" and making hard for authors and publishers to make a living from their works is the same that praise what Apple is doing when it is exactly the same in the case of apps.
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No, race to the bottom for apps is what Google is doing, it hurt developers and customers. What Apple is doing is what is best for consumers
As a Google astroturfer, I can neither confirm nor deny your statement. : |
But the "bad" developers can follow the savings acount model, with each automatic app upgrade gradualy reducing functionality, untill you have to buy the new improved mark 2 app.
I recently purchased a set of software from Omni - I did this directly from them, because as I was buying multiple items, I was entited to a discount.
I also noted that I was buying OmniFocus 1 and OmniOutliner 3, although they are due to release OmniFocus 2, and OmniOutliner 4 soon. I only purchased these items at this time because they could assure me a free upgrade when the new software is released - if I had to pay full price for an upgrade (as in the app store) then I would have been forced to wait until the upgrade before buying the software.
If the app store had allowed both the bulk-discount and the upgrade paths, then I would have purchased from there (for a slightly higher price than I paid outside the app store) for the convenience, and Apple would have had their fat 30% cut. As it is, they left me with no choice but to buy direct from the developer.
-- Pete.
I also noted that I was buying OmniFocus 1 and OmniOutliner 3, although they are due to release OmniFocus 2, and OmniOutliner 4 soon. I only purchased these items at this time because they could assure me a free upgrade when the new software is released - if I had to pay full price for an upgrade (as in the app store) then I would have been forced to wait until the upgrade before buying the software.
If the app store had allowed both the bulk-discount and the upgrade paths, then I would have purchased from there (for a slightly higher price than I paid outside the app store) for the convenience, and Apple would have had their fat 30% cut. As it is, they left me with no choice but to buy direct from the developer.
-- Pete.
Apple is being very clear with their policy and they are also following it themselves as the article points out. Moving to cheaper purchase prices without discounted paid upgrades seems like a better model in general. Omni should be able to pull more "new" customers into their great apps as a result. End users just have to decide if they want the upgrade and pay the new lesser full price. Omni is being risk averse by not changing their business model to accommodate this. I love their apps, and hope they adapt.
Well there's a way I'd say. New features can be available as an in app purchase so that you get to update your app to see that there's a bundle of new features that are in app purchasable. While at the same time there's an another version of app that costs more and has everything built in already. I do believe there are some software for iOS which initially being free has unlock full content feature within the app while having the separate version of app which is full from the get go but which you have to pay for.
The other way, that I'd say would make sense is to sell a voucher code within the app, one like Starbucks gives you with a purchase of their coffee occasionally, which would allow you to get a specific app free of charge and that would be possible only if you have bought their app previously as the only way to get this would be via an in app purchase.
However that may not be possible under current store rules but all I'm trying to say that there may be a creative solution to this problem.
And yes, I'm not a big fan of a paid app upgrades because I know we would see those all over the store and that would hurt user interest in buying apps as well as the whole experience using them. There would be also a load of people who would still use an old version with no support for new OS versions or lacking essential bug fixes as there would be no way to give a bug fix for someone who is not interested in buying and upgrade.
The other way, that I'd say would make sense is to sell a voucher code within the app, one like Starbucks gives you with a purchase of their coffee occasionally, which would allow you to get a specific app free of charge and that would be possible only if you have bought their app previously as the only way to get this would be via an in app purchase.
However that may not be possible under current store rules but all I'm trying to say that there may be a creative solution to this problem
.And yes, I'm not a big fan of a paid app upgrades because I know we would see those all over the store and that would hurt user interest in buying apps as well as the whole experience using them. There would be also a load of people who would still use an old version with no support for new OS versions or lacking essential bug fixes as there would be no way to give a bug fix for someone who is not interested in buying and upgrade.
Apple does NOT ALLOW the sale of upgrades in the app store.
Wil Shipley, the author of Delicious Library, wrote this essay about it last year:
http://blog.wilshipley.com/2012/03/mac-app-store-needs-paid-upgrades.html
The situation hasn't changed. For developers and users alike, Apple's decision royally sucks. If you need to blame someone, it's the crowd in One Infinite Loop, Cupertino.
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You have choices. Lots of them. One is to stop spending money on Apple products and the Apple ecosystem.
I frequently get "emails" from friends, telling me about some great "product". Except, that friend never sent me the email. And its pretty obvious when you see the email, that it was spam sent from that friend's computer, via malware that has somehow accessed their contacts. So you are saying that since that person exercised his/her choice to not be babied, it is okay that your personal information was made vulnerable for exploitation. Not everything that happens as a result of their bad decision making only affects them. At least Apple is thinking more than one step beyond the immediate situation... something that most people do not do.
What's stopping them now?
It doesn't need a message, they can simply refuse to update "XYZ" when they have "XYZ 2" published to the Store.
After some time, APIs and other hurdles will do the work and the old version might stop working (you know Apple doesn't give one flying **** about backwards compatibility... If an app dies on a new OS that's perfectly cool with them)
Just slap a policy change on this issue and it's solved.
No messages and artificial lockouts would be possible that aren't possible already.
Oh we're so smart aren't we?
a) I talked about what COULD happen. THEN I'll have a big problem.
b) There is no viable alternative atm. Main OS stays OS X, in fact, right now overall I'm very satisfied with it. Windows is gone to *****, Linux is no main OS for me and anything else is too obscure to even mention, let's be real here.
c) I always vote with my wallet, you implying I buy stuff I don't want merely derived from my fears of what could happen in a nightmare is quite fantastical. Right now Apple's products are good. They slack in certain areas, for example it's absolutely ridiculous to not give me a decent filesystem with OS X, but Windows doesn't either and GNU/Linux or BSD based distributions are no main OS material as I mentioned before. Tough luck voting here.
d) Uhm, what? I certainly know very well what to do with my money, thank you very much. I use Windows AND OS X by the way, because I also happen to be a gamer and OS X just isn't cutting it in that department. Backwards compatibility being one of the issues here. I don't trust OS X enough to start gaming on it other than OS X exclusives. Why? Because Apple will drop support for code compiled today at the blink of an eye in 5-10 years if it helps them keep their codebase a tad bit cleaner.
Get real man, it's impossible to buy products you're PERFECTLY content with.
At least products as complex as computers, operating systems, smartphones etc...
Glassed Silver:mac
The difference now is that, they either have to make an entirely new app in the app store, or offer the update in an upgrade for free. It's not possible to charge someone for an update at the moment, which is exactly the point. Developers like EA would release an upgrade every month forcing you to keep upgrading everytime. This is the Downloadable content ********, we have in the gamers world all over again. I rather have apple keep it as is.
I am sure Omni was a pretty popular developer before adding their apps to the app store, but nothing really compares to the exposure Apple provides. It's the reason you pay that 99$. You make them sound like a professional company, who knows what they are doing. How can millions of developers know the terms apple has set for them, but omni wasn't aware of this? This is why I think they are playing the victim, you realise that the traffic + 30% apple takes + sales in general, from the millions of users provided by the app store is something that probably wouldn't be possible if they hadn't applied theird app to the app store in the first place. It also seems like a good incentive to start playing the victim.
Beleive it or not, there are people in the world who actually know how to use computers without being looked after by Apple. If you ask me, like most of Apple's decision regarding the App Store, this is unnecessary.
Ah so, those people know how to use computers, but not how to buy the App from Omni directly? This was an option you know....
Actually - I wouldn't be surprised if they did put it out for free. Mountain Lion was almost free at $19.99. Just as you never have to buy iOS updates, I get the feeling Apple may move in that direction for Mac OSX as well. Let's see when Mavericks debuts. It just might be free this time around.
I think Apple needs to allow developers both timed demos and paid upgrades in the Mac and iOS App stores.
I agree with the latter about timed demos and paid upgrades but with this action against the Omni Group Apple has made quite a statement against upgrade pricing. And it seems like they think timed demos introduce too much complexity to the App Store. They are needed though. Developers don't have a hardware business to finance their software development.
Mavericks could be free. That would generate a lot of positive publicity and move a few more holdouts to the most current OS.
For the sake of discussion, I'll argue that it's just a .1 upgrade to OSX, taking it from 10.8 to 10.9. That's certainly the numbering convention used with just about every piece of software out there: Version(dot)update. If this was OS11 I'd accept it was a new version.
Isn't it possible to go from Lion directly to Mavericks? (not entirely sure)
If so, it doesn't matter if it's a .1 "upgrade". It's a standalone product and it's not a crime to ask for money for a standalone product.
In any case, I don't mind the way the MAS works. Buy once, get (easy) updates for free. It's a walled garden but it's a choice. It's still possible to buy from the dev directly. I'm not a big spender but I mostly buy my stuff on the MAS if it's possible just because I like the easy service. As long as I have a choice, i'm happy. If the MAS becomes mandatory, they are losing me as a customer.
Isn't it possible to go from Lion directly to Mavericks? (not entirely sure)
If so, it doesn't matter if it's a .1 "upgrade". It's a standalone product and it's not a crime to ask for money for a standalone product.
And Omniplan 2 is an standalone product, you point?
1) Apple pays all the traffic, hand the payments, rent the servers... They take 30% which is quite low believe me.
2) you can usually find demos and betas on developer website.
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You, but 99% of users on any platform are retarded, so MAS is a really good thing. Maybe it sound unnecessary as you "need" (it is not an insult but the opposite) but they need to have a simply, convenient, secure way to deliver software. MAS is perfect for this.
I was making a point about Mavericks being a standalone newer version of OSX and being offered as one, instead of a free update.
If the Omni app is a standalone version, it isn't just an update/upgrade, so they can just offer it as a new product (and maybe pull the old one) or just keep updating their first app for free by adding features (making a second version obsolete). That's how the MAS works, no? How can you not benefit from this as a customer?
I happily bought again on MAS at "full" price Pixelmator and Coda. I agree with you, it is much better, simple and cleaner to have a very low price for all and don't have upgrade prices.
Why would 99% of users on any platform be retarted? What about, just not well informed? I don't think going to a website, finding a program you're looking for, making a paypal account or giving your creditcard data to a company you probably never heard of, downloading the file, opening and drag/drop the app / use an installer, is so obvious to most people unless you have an interest in computers (or have some experience). Why does it always have to be 'retarted'.
The exposure (and sales) OmniGroup get from the Mac App Store is 100x compared to their website. So even free updates their families can eat lamb every day of the week
Hmm. Well to me this looks like a massive Microsoft style lawsuit and settlement coming with Apple on the losing end.