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Developers Setting Expectations Ahead of Mac App Store Launch

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Apr 12, 2001
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With Apple's Mac App Store set to debut in just two days, developers are beginning to set expectations for their applications, particularly in comparison to their other applications already available through the iOS App Store. On his blog The Pocket Cyclone, developer Markus Nigrin shares the results of a discussion he recently held with several other prominent iOS App Store developers moving their apps to the Mac App Store in the first wave of releases.


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For the most part, Nigrin's results show that iOS developers moving their apps to the Mac App Store are looking to maintain their existing price points, which frequently fall in the $1.99-$4.99 price range.
Why does a 1:1 adoption of the price on the Mac seem so natural for iOS devs?

For once, Apple made the code re-use for a native Mac app very straightforward. Every dev I talked to mentioned porting times of less than four weeks. Which were mostly spent on all types of adjustments, like keyboard and HD support. Also, graphical assets for mobile games are typically originated at a much higher resolution anyway, as everybody in the iOS world needs to prepare for a foreseeable future of HD displays. The point is, if you already have the assets and re-creating a native Mac app is relatively low-cost, there is no immediate pressure to go with another pricing model on this platform, if the reward could be an early (chart) success.
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As far as expectations for sales units go, developers seem to be split, with several of the surveyed developers offering conservative estimates of only 10% of that seen for the corresponding iOS titles, while others have pushed their expectations to as high as double that seen on the iOS platform. Sales splits between iOS and Mac versions will obviously vary based on a wide range of criteria, including the usefulness of certain types of apps on the two platforms and the overall user experience, where some apps may see more benefit than others in either the portable multi-touch environment of iOS or the larger-screen, pointer-driven Mac environment.

Article Link: Developers Setting Expectations Ahead of Mac App Store Launch
 
Article Link
https://www.macrumors.com/2011/01/04/developers-setting-expectations-ahead-of-mac-app-store-launch/
What's going to happen with apps like Rapidweaver? They charge $79. I'm sure with the App store there will be more volume and they will be forced to lower prices. Especially with no demos.
 
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I'm def getting chopper
 
Wow... cool that iOS apps can port to easily. Could be very interesting. I didn't realize this was so easy. I big plus for Apple on that!
 
I'd be interested in seeing what the app store is like & how well it does. I can see it doing very well. But hopefully, imo, not so well that Apple decides to make it the only place to get Mac apps as it stands now. The Mac App Store will be a good, central place to get the basic consumer-level apps, but I doubt we'll see truly professional-grade apps like Adobe Photoshop or something. But I'm not going to concern myself with that right now. I'm just going to wait and see how it goes and see what Apple does with it.

Why do I get the feeling that Apple's servers will crash or be very slow on the first day or 2 of the app store opening?
 
very interesting. Pricing like this will certainly be a benefit to Mac sales. From a consumer perspective, Macs are just that much more like the idevices.
 
Apple's plan is becoming clearer.

Everyone thought the Mac app store was just a way to better sell Mac apps. But it's really not. (Acorn or iLife will be fine with or without this store.)

No, this is an attempt to bring some of the iOS developers over to the Mac...someplace they would not have thought to tread before this.

Looks like it's gonna work.
 
If it really is for this purpose then I'm actually quite excited about it. Nobody gets shafted.
 
Small White Car said:
Apple's plan is becoming clearer.

Everyone thought the Mac app store was just a way to better sell Mac apps. But it's really not. (Acorn or iLife will be fine with or without this store.)

No, this is an attempt to bring some of the iOS developers over to the Mac...someplace they would not have thought to tread before this.

Looks like it's gonna work.
Click to expand...

Agreed, I think it's a genius idea on their part and can't wait to see what's available on the 6th.


Sent from my iPhone
 
Small White Car said:
Apple's plan is becoming clearer.

Everyone thought the Mac app store was just a way to better sell Mac apps. But it's really not. (Acorn or iLife will be fine with or without this store.)

No, this is an attempt to bring some of the iOS developers over to the Mac...someplace they would not have thought to tread before this.

Looks like it's gonna work.
Click to expand...

Absolutely agree with this statement. It looks like the same strategy as with the iOS devices, the actual device is only 20% of the attraction and the software is the remaining 80%. Genius strategy.
 
I received a very interesting publicity blurb from one developer whose stuff is going to be sold through the store. Let me quote a few parts of it:

a) Our apps will still be available for purchase on our online store. And also, on the Mac App Store.

b) There is no way to "import" a license into the App Store. If you purchased a license on our online store, you will have to keep on using the app that is distributed outside Apple's App Store.

c) There are two actual versions of each application, one will be available on the App Store, and the other one will be available outside the App Store. Both versions will be getting updates regularly, at the same time...All the applications available on the App Store have to be tested, and approved by Apple. We developers get a set of guidelines that we have to stick to. That means that a feature that might be available in the out-of-the-store version might not be available in the App Store version, for a given application. Usually, the most feature-rich version will be the one available outside the App Store.
 
I hope they alow a filter that lets you ignore all the crapy facebook like pay and wait games.

So in relation to the iPad... how do you guys see the AppStore opening? Dos this instantly mean way more resolution on the ipad (i was toled it needs to be at least 4 times as much to work properly)?
And how long will it take to have soled enough for Steve to be able to go "In just X we already soled xxxxxxxxx Apps on tze n3w OSX AppStore!!11" - You´ed think they´ed give this a cupple of weeks to settle in before doing a media event.. so talking about it will be more than just a rehash of the last event in that relation.
 
I don't know how I feel about paying for the same App 3 times for apps that are being ported from iOS (iPhone/iPad/Mac), and each version more expensive than the previous.

For me, the Mac App Store is going to be a place to buy/discover new Mac Applications, I'll don't need Air Hockey on my iMac/MacBook Pro.
 
DrRadon said:
I hope they alow a filter that lets you ignore all the crapy facebook like pay and wait games.

So in relation to the iPad... how do you guys see the AppStore opening? Dos this instantly mean way more resolution on the ipad (i was toled it needs to be at least 4 times as much to work properly)?
And how long will it take to have soled enough for Steve to be able to go "In just X we already soled xxxxxxxxx Apps on tze n3w OSX AppStore!!11" - You´ed think they´ed give this a cupple of weeks to settle in before doing a media event.. so talking about it will be more than just a rehash of the last event in that relation.
Click to expand...

HUH?!?! i didnt understand ANYTHING you wrote....
 
saving107 said:
I don't know how I feel about paying for the same App 3 times for apps that are being ported from iOS (iPhone/iPad/Mac), and each version more expensive than the previous.

For me, the Mac App Store is going to be a place to buy/discover new Mac Applications, I'll don't need Air Hockey on my iMac/MacBook Pro.
Click to expand...

no...BUT i could def go for seeing some angry birds flyin across my 27 inch iMac tho!!! :D
 
iOS games converted to OS X? No thanks! Original OS X apps with competitive pricing? Yes, please!
 
7o7munoz7o7 said:
no...BUT i could def go for seeing some angry birds flyin across my 27 inch iMac tho!!! :D
Click to expand...

I would consider Angry Birds and Words with Friends (if they come to the Mac App Store), but other games like Flight Control and Plants vs Zombies will stay on my iPad/iPhone.
 
Can't wait til the 6th

Like seeing that prices will be pretty close to the same.

What I am hoping for is that iwork 11 will be there. I skipped the last version, but now my ipad created docs are no longer compatible unless I export them as word docs.

Also, I hope they allow you to buy ilife apps separately. All I need is the new imovie.

Looking forward to the day when our ipad/iphone apps run natively and data stays in sync on the mac.
 
saving107 said:
I would consider Angry Birds and Words with Friends (if they come to the Mac App Store), but other games like Flight Control and Plants vs Zombies will stay on my iPad/iPhone.
Click to expand...

same here. angry birds just announced they're on appup.com (windoze only) so hopefully we'll see them Thursday for the mac
 
The iOS apps appear to be similar to dashboard widgets. Look at the stock app for an example. The biggest difference in the environments is that multiple widgets can run side by side in Dashboard.

So will these apps purchased through the Mac App Store run in Dashboard? Or will Lion do away with Dashboard and move the widget/apps into normal windows within the OS? Maybe the user will have the option of running it in either location?
 
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