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Apple to Eliminate Retail Box Software Inventory

tanknot007 said:
So what happens if I have no internet connection? Only way to get online is via a public place. Cmon apple not everyone is rich like you :mad:

Also MANY people dont know how to download and install... they 100% trust cds to do the job for them.
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I cant think of any people that own a Mac but cant afford internet. Also, If people can buy a CD/DVD, insert it and click "next" five times, i think they can manage clicking " buy" one time.
 
0815 said:
:confused: You can still go to Best Buy or any other store and buy boxed versions of software. It is just the Apple Store (the brick one) where you no longer can buy boxed software. They do not control any of the other stores.
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Could apple decide not to sell to those retailers?
 
Surprised at people not seeing this eventually happening. Apple's been reducing its packaging more and more every year. My OS X boxes up until Tiger had big retail boxes. Then when Leopard came out, it was magically smaller. And Snow Leopard had an even smaller thinner box the size of the DVD and as thick as an iPod touch. Even their computer boxes have shrunk. My 2007 MacBook box is 6 inches larger and slightly thicker than my 2010 MacBook Pro box.

I think the smartest thing would be to offer both downloads and USB stick based installers. And the USB stick's would come in the smallest packaging you can get. About as big as a gift card and with a small amount of plastic holding it on. Can't get much smaller than that without just throwing the stick at the buyer.

The only problem with USB stick installers is eventually instead of having a bunch of scratched DVD's lying around, you'll have a bunch of much more easily lost USB sticks. Unless you keep them all on a keychain, in which case you'll eventually need a 5" Janitor's ring to hold them all. "Which one is it? No, not that one.. no.. nooo... hmm, no... ah.. no, that's not it..."

Though they could be smart and colorize each piece of Apple software differently. Grey for OS X, Yellow for maybe iLife, Red for iWork, blue for something else, purple.... So you could tell at a glance. And when a new version comes out, they could have a program to recycle them. Or you could just keep them. Whatever.

At the very least, I want OS X on USB sticks as a retail option this Summer. I don't want another disc.
 
I got tired of reading this thread.
Drive's will disappear not sure if it is in the next refresh.

Solution if the Mac App store is not an option? (because of broadband or limits)
Supply the software you need in a USB Pen...

You have to go to the store to get the software in a box so you can go to store to get the software in a pen right? And because this isn't for the majority it seems plausible..

There ya go... I don't think there is a computer without a USB port now-a-days.
 
Although change is normal, I'm sad for the millions in this world without decent and/or cost effective internet for their Macs. :(

My only internet option is monthly 3G mobile data. 4gig capped at $81.51 or the largest plan, 8 gig capped at $111.46 plus 10c per MB over.

There are No Apple stores in the New Zealand only resellers who don't take kindly to customers using their internet access.

Free WiFi is available, usually running at less than dialup speed at a few public libraries in mainly lower decile areas. Limited/capped WiFi in some coffee bars.

It may be too early yet to expect Mac users to download all their software, OS updates are bad enough.
 
leroypants said:
Could apple decide not to sell to those retailers?
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They could, but it makes no sense since they aren't concerned with the retail space their products take up for their competitors retail stores. That is the stores problem.

Lets not forget - the only Apple products that Apple sells in their App store are iLife, iWork, and Aperture. They have to sell their other products somehow...
 
ciTiger said:
I got tired of reading this thread.
Drive's will disappear not sure if it is in the next refresh.

Solution if the Mac App store is not an option? (because of broadband or limits)
Supply the software you need in a USB Pen...

You have to go to the store to get the software in a box so you can go to store to get the software in a pen right? And because this isn't for the majority it seems plausible..

There ya go... I don't think there is a computer without a USB port now-a-days.
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Agreed.

The sooner they disappear the better - make it an optional legacy device for people who need it - don't want to pay for hardware in my MacBook that I never ever need.
 
JSpence said:
Off topic: Just saw the "Mission Control" in Lion.

:eek:Holy crap does that look complicated.
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REALLY? it's just what is needed.

1) Along the Top you have your Desktop, Dashboard and full screen apps.

2) All of the windows that are opened are clustered by App along the middle so you can choose a specific window.

3) You have your dock at the bottom for access to your other apps.

Simple. You get an organized thumbnail of everything you have opened... what do you find complicated about it?
 
I will rate it as positive for two reasons:
1) Drop the OD from MB & MBP, I was waiting for AGES
2) Supply meets demand, ISPs are going to improve their service (like it was with AT&T and Verizon, thanks to the iPhone)
 
0815 said:
Agreed.

The sooner they disappear the better - make it an optional legacy device for people who need it - don't want to pay for hardware in my MacBook that I never ever need.
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So right... I'd rather have 4 - 6 more hours on the battery and a discrete graphics in my 2010 13 MBP...
 
So how about an "app kiosk" in the Apple store for those who can't download the large installer files. Just bring in your own USB stick or SD card, and copy the installer files onto it. :)
 
I think Apple should wait just a little longer. There are still people who rely on DVDs and CDs because of slow or unavailable internet. The time will come, but not now.
 
Wirelessly posted (Mozilla/5.0 (iPhone; U; CPU iPhone OS 4_2_1 like Mac OS X; en-us) AppleWebKit/533.17.9 (KHTML, like Gecko) Version/5.0.2 Mobile/8C148 Safari/6533.18.5)

They could still have boxed software out the back, just not on display. Apple should be trying to make agreements with Internet service providers that Mac App Store downloads do not count toasted their quota.
 
I haven't used the App store; I've a question.

Say I have a certain program from the App store. One day I buy a new computer. Can I copy that program, that exact version, onto the new computer? Or do I have to download the newest version from the App store again?

A problem we sometimes have at my work is that new versions of programs won't run old input files (analytical software, generally). We need to keep copies of the old programs, so that if we need to re-run a particular analysis one day, or even look at old results, we can fire up the old version of the software and get the same results as we produced the first time.

So can I keep several versions of software from the App store? Can I move programs from "Applications" into other (sub-)folders and prevent the older versions from being over-written when the new one is downloaded? And still use the old versions?

I can't help but doubt that the App store won't introduce new headaches...

Cheers, A.
 
Transfer to new computers as well?

Forgive me if this has been clarified. I tried and did not see this anywhere with a search.

Am I correct that the store is associated with your iTunes account? If so, doesn't this mean that if I buy a new Mac and log in, I will be able to download all of those same programs onto my new computer as well? Does it work similarly with iTunes with perhaps a certain number of authorized installs perhaps?
 
rhp2424 said:
Forgive me if this has been clarified. I tried and did not see this anywhere with a search.

Am I correct that the store is associated with your iTunes account? If so, doesn't this mean that if I buy a new Mac and log in, I will be able to download all of those same programs onto my new computer as well? Does it work similarly with iTunes with perhaps a certain number of authorized installs perhaps?
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It works that exact way - no limits on number of computers though..
 
JGowan said:
REALLY? it's just what is needed.

1) Along the Top you have your Desktop, Dashboard and full screen apps.

2) All of the windows that are opened are clustered by App along the middle so you can choose a specific window.

3) You have your dock at the bottom for access to your other apps.

Simple. You get an organized thumbnail of everything you have opened... what do you find complicated about it?
Click to expand...

That's what I was thinking. The very few features we've seen of Lion so far are my most wanted features since Spotlight and the original Exposé. Mission Control looks AMAZING since it now takes into account fullscreen apps (So glad they'll finally be first-class citizens) and groups all of an applications windows together. It'll be a lot less cluttered and a lot less confusing to new users. I use four finger swipe up for Desktop and down for all-window. I can't wait for MC to replace the all-window mode.

And the iPhone-like Apps screen will replace DragThing for me. An app I've had installed for 10 years. Sorry to James Thompson, but all I use it for now is a single full-screen page with my most used apps. The only thing I'll miss is folders (Not the folders you have in iOS, but aliases to actual folders) which I rarely use anyway since most of them are my Home folders. I have Dock stacks for those.

And that's just the two features they've shown off. There's more coming.
 
fabianjj said:
But how many people are in that position? I don't know about America, although I did see that there is an awful lot of people there without a steady broadband connection.

And more importantly, how many of those people actively uses computers and buys Mac software?
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Lets put aside that for a moment, how about those of us who live in countries which have metered internet? I'm not saying that Apple should solve a problem that has nothing to do with them but I do think it is short sighted if they went 100% with the AppStore.
 
arn said:
is this better?

"with the success of the itunes app store and the launch of the mac app store, it seems clear that the long term future of software sales is going to be digital distribution. According to a source who doesn't want to get fired, however, apple is planning on making the move to all digital sooner than expected at their retail stores. Apple is working towards eliminating boxed software and presumably focusing sales through the mac app store."
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no!
 
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