Fear the Mac App Store

[presdaddy]

why would a developer sell their program in a mac app store (in which apple keeps 30% of the profits AND you'd have to register with Apple for $$ and go through an app approval process) when they could sell it on their own and retain all the profits?

Let's assume the mac app store is great publicity. If I were a developer, I'd put my app in the store to gain publicity, but also sell it on my own website for 10% cheaper. That way, they'd make 20% more and the customer would save 10%.

But then Apple is losing all this profit. It'd be much better for Apple if we couldn't download apps outside of the App Store, like with the iPhone.

...Eventual end of the 'open' mac computer.

 

[grapes911]

Don't forget about the hosting. Bandwidth isn't cheap. All downloads would go though Apple's servers, not your own. It might not make up for the 30% + $99, but its another cost to consider.

 

[Ibjr]

why would a developer sell their program in a mac app store (in which apple keeps 30% of the profits AND you'd have to register with Apple for $$ and go through an app approval process) when they could sell it on their own and retain all the profits?

Let's assume the mac app store is great publicity. If I were a developer, I'd put my app in the store to gain publicity, but also sell it on my own website for 10% cheaper. That way, they'd make 20% more and the customer would save 10%.

But then Apple is losing all this profit. It'd be much better for Apple if we couldn't download apps outside of the App Store, like with the iPhone.

...Eventual end of the 'open' mac computer.

Until Apple takes any steps to prevent the installation of non appstore bought applications, you need to quit this baseless fear mongering. Has anyone even confirmed that Apple wants to keep 30% of appstore sales?

 

[Rizon]

Has anyone even confirmed that Apple wants to keep 30% of appstore sales?

Yup. Jobs explicitly said this today.

 

[HappyDude20]

Until Apple takes any steps to prevent the installation of non appstore bought applications, you need to quit this baseless fear mongering. Has anyone even confirmed that Apple wants to keep 30% of appstore sales?

Yeah it mentioned that the Mac app store would consist of the same model as for iOS app store.

I agree that as Mac users we don't yet have the right to worry...especially considering we will still be able to purchase apps for the Mac almost anywhere, including a developers site.

However, the mere existance now of an app store for my laptop makes my MacBook pro one step closer to resembling my iPhone, of which has only one store available to obtain apps. Of course, unless I jailbreak it, which then becomes two.

Its clear what Apple wants to do:

They would love to see one app store for each of their devices and have them sync with each other...which doesn't sound that bad, however at the behest of an open Internet we know now.

Aside from that the MacBook Air is now too resembling the iphone and iPod touch, with no allowing us to change or upgrade the memory capacity on their ssd's. Personally this is what put a sour taste in my mouth with the Air. I could never live on 64gb's on my laptop...or even 128gb's.

It's obvious what Apple wants to do. Will they accomplish it? Perhaps..in like 3-5 years,..but not today.







But it is starting.

 

[baleensavage]

I think at this point we have nothing to be afraid of. Down the road, maybe. Clearly the Mac App store is aimed at the smaller vendors who may be able to make more profit off of apps sold on their site, but in theory will sell more of them in an Apple app store. It's all about exposure and positioning. There are a lot of computer users who simply won't download apps from the Web, but might if there was a sanctioned Apple store for them. Plus if you can get your app onto the charts of the Apple app store, there is potential to sell huge amounts of apps for people just browsing. All this app store is a Steam for Mac apps. Steam is an awesome thing. You buy a game once and can use it on any Mac or PC you have. For a user, a Mac app store could be great as well. I've often wished that I could use Software Update to update all my apps. It's a major pain going to all these different Web sites to keep stuff updated. Plus to be able to go to one place to download stuff, that would save major amounts of time and effort.

Where we have to worry is when Apple starts forcing this on people like they have with the iPhone. There is no way in hell a company like Adobe is going to take a 30% pay cut on Creative Suite. So if Apple forced them to go through the App store, then guess who gets to pay that extra 30%...the consumer. And that truly is something to fear when the programs are already absurdly expensive. Because Adobe would see no benefit from selling through Apple's venue and neither would the consumer.

 

[smiddlehurst]

God some people are paranoid.

The App Store (and companion changes in the OS such as full screen apps and hands-off installing) is, possibly, the biggest jump forward for an OS for the last five years and I'm totally serious about that. What Apple have done is taken the same OS X we have today and, with that simple addition, made it infinitely more user-friendly for non-techies.

At the same time they're giving developers another route to market that, yes, takes 30% of their income but offers a huge potential upside. For a start it removes any worries about hosting, allows you to process credit card transactions and handles updates for you - all major problems when you're going it alone. But the big benefit is, surely, obvious - the potential audience for your app is vastly improved over whatever interest you can drum up hosting an application and marketing it yourself. If Apple take 30% but you sell twice as many copies of an application then you're up on the deal and that's assuming that you manage to get your hosting, payment processing etc for free.

As for 'FEAR the app store'.... why would you? Apple are NOT stupid, they know there's a core group of users who demand the freedom to install what they want on the desktop and that functionality isn't going away anytime soon, if at all. They haven't removed one single feature from OS X (as far as we know at this time anyway) that makes it any less of a 'pro' OS. As an aged geek and occasional developer the idea is fascinating and, by far, the most exciting development in computing for years. Digital distribution is the way of the future and Apple just delivered it with a proven model at a fair price for devs and, more importantly, to a very large install base. The potential is massive and I'll guarantee there's a lot of independent developers looking at this VERY seriously at the moment.

Frankly this sentiment seems to be coming from a vocal minority of geeks who see the move of computers into mainstream society as some sort of threat to be fought. This is just nuts, the computer is increasingly becoming part of our daily lives in the same way pen and paper was. As developers, sys admins, tech support - whatever your involvement in this industry may happen to be - we have GOT to start realising that the next big step is going to be taking what is still, at heart, a business device designed for a certain level of knowledge and turning it into a true consumer platform. Apple today took a massive step towards that and I will guarantee that Microsoft are going to be looking at that Summer 2011 delivery date for Lion and worrying. If we don't see an app store in Windows 8 I'll be astonished.

 

[MisterMe]

God some people are paranoid.

The App Store (and companion changes in the OS such as full screen apps and hands-off installing) is, possibly, the biggest jump forward for an OS for the last five years and I'm totally serious about that. ...

I cannot agree more. This is huge. the MacOS X App Store has potential that we have not yet begun to consider. New developers, small developers, off-shore developers--all of these categories will find it much easier to gain a foothold in the marketplace than they do now. There are whole categories of software that many users don't know exist. The App Store has the potential to spark a renaissance in software development.

However, not everyone will benefit. There are developers who have been trading on their name for a decade or more. It will be easier to compete with them now.

I can hardly wait.

 

[belltree]

With the App Store coming to the Mac I think that the code review of submitted apps needs to be more detailed. I don't know what Apple's process is for checking and approving apps in their app store but we have seen 'Easter eggs' pop up in apps in the past so this shows that it cannot be very detailed in terms of code review.

This could be a big security issue if apps appear for the desktop app store that have 'Easter eggs' of a malicious nature. Anyone else think that Apple needs to be very detailed on their app reviews?

 

[Michaelgtrusa]

Restrictive, dangerous, and most will not approve of this move when you can sell you're apps on you're own.

 

[THX1139]

I don't want an app store shopping cart built into my OS. Period. Half the time I'm annoyed that iTunes default is to take over functions that I've assigned to other software. I might be worried needlessly, but I don't want to have some application (that I can't delete or turn off) telling or suggesting software to buy. Reminds me of all those Windows reminders. If the Mac app store runs as a separate application, then I'm okay with that. But, I kind of feel this is a big step into Apple becoming "Big Brother" and controlling my choices and machine.

 

[fcortese]

I don't want an app store shopping cart built into my OS. Period. Half the time I'm annoyed that iTunes default is to take over functions that I've assigned to other software. I might be worried needlessly, but I don't want to have some application (that I can't delete or turn off) telling or suggesting software to buy. Reminds me of all those Windows reminders. If the Mac app store runs as a separate application, then I'm okay with that. But, I kind of feel this is a big step into Apple becoming "Big Brother" and controlling my choices and machine.

No one is forcing you to use the App store or buy any app. I like the idea of going to one spot easily and selecting an app, say jsut buy Pages since I use excel rather than numbers. The cost to me is the same and I really do not care what apple's cut in the deal is. It's just business. If the developer doesn't like it then he/she will offer it elsewhere. The only danger is if Apple says that only apps in the app store can be downloaded. I will take a wait and see attitude with regards to the latter.

 

[zap2]

Linux has had these types of app depos for quite some times...and Ubuntu 10.10 has a new App store where you can pay for apps too. Honestly, I think this is a great(and logical) add on to OS X, perfect for casual users.

 

[davelanger]

Why do people always questions things like this when Apple does them?
A lot of people thought the itunes store would fail, and we all see how much money that makes, I think its about time people give apple the bennifit of the doubt.

 

[TuffLuffJimmy]

Until Apple takes any steps to prevent the installation of non appstore bought applications, you need to quit this baseless fear mongering. Has anyone even confirmed that Apple wants to keep 30% of appstore sales?

It's not baseless fear mongering. The App Store could be a great addition to OS X, but it could also really damage the third party application market. If we see another race to the bottom with a ridiculous amount of meaningless applications we could see traditional distribution get out competed.

 

[0007776]

It's not baseless fear mongering. The App Store could be a great addition to OS X, but it could also really damage the third party application market. If we see another race to the bottom with a ridiculous amount of meaningless applications we could see traditional distribution get out competed.

I'd be surprised if we see a race to the bottom, since people are already used to paying a larger ammount for their computer software. At the same time it may end up making some of the mac freeware that already exists easier to find and use instead of paid applications.

 

[TuffLuffJimmy]

I'd be surprised if we see a race to the bottom, since people are already used to paying a larger ammount for their computer software. At the same time it may end up making some of the mac freeware that already exists easier to find and use instead of paid applications.

Which is why it could be great.

 

[Middling]

Let's assume the mac app store is great publicity. If I were a developer, I'd put my app in the store to gain publicity, but also sell it on my own website for 10% cheaper. That way, they'd make 20% more and the customer would save 10%.

I suspect that Apple will take a leaf out of the iBooks Store and make it part of the terms and conditions that you can not sell the same product for less elsewhere.

This has not been necessary for the iOS version of the App Store since, unless you jailbreak, they have a captive audience, but for eBooks Apple (and Amazon) prohibits you from selling elsewhere for less.

I suspect what we'll see is "light" versions of apps on the App Store and "pro" versions on the developers's websites appearing for the same, or similar, prices.

I'm of two minds about the Mac App Store; On the one hand it's nice that what Apple bills as the "world's most advanced OS" is finally getting something that Linux has had for more than 10 years but, on the other hand, i am also worried about the possibility of a future release being locked down to only App Store-bought apps.

I've become increasingly disillusioned by Apple recently and yesterday's announcements did little to alleviate that, so it wont be too great a surprise if Apple do lock down a future OS X release. Not too big a deal really since Linux is already better than Windows and quickly catching up to OS X.

 

[munkery]

Positives:

1) Curated app store (repository) promotes security
2) Facilitates code signing security measures of the iphone for macs (if implemented)

Negatives:

1) Will open source developers from the no adware culture start to include ads in their apps to make money, essentially abandoning that no adware paradigm.
2) Will open source projects fork due to #1, effectively splitting unified development teams.

Suggestion:

1) Have an option to donate for apps by open source developers that want to continue to receive funds via donations and not through ads.
2) A link on the page for open source apps to download the source code.

 

[Beau10]

1) Have an option to donate for apps by open source developers that want to continue to receive funds via donations and not through ads.

Already there - in-app purchase.

 

[munkery]

Already there - in-app purchase.

Thanks!

I thought it was only for buying add ons for apps paid, free (shareware), or ad supported apps. I did not know in-app purchase was for donations as well.

 

[Beau10]

Thanks!

I thought it was only for buying add ons for apps paid, free (shareware), or ad supported apps. I did not know in-app purchase was for donations as well.

It isn't for anything in particular - it's an embeddable content store, you define for what.

 

[Bernard SG]

why would a developer sell their program in a mac app store (in which apple keeps 30% of the profits AND you'd have to register with Apple for $$ and go through an app approval process) when they could sell it on their own and retain all the profits?

Let's assume the mac app store is great publicity. If I were a developer, I'd put my app in the store to gain publicity, but also sell it on my own website for 10% cheaper. That way, they'd make 20% more and the customer would save 10%.

But then Apple is losing all this profit. It'd be much better for Apple if we couldn't download apps outside of the App Store, like with the iPhone.

...Eventual end of the 'open' mac computer.

Personally I have no fear at all that Apple changes the Mac platform into a locked ecosystem , for several reasons:

- Commercially, Apple knows very well that this would alienate them the "traditional" Mac user base in a way that would spell disaster for the Mac;

- Technically, this would require a massive redesign of the Mac OS architecture to force the user to use a proprietary protocol in order to install an application. I'm not an expert so I might be very wrong, but it seems nearly impossible to achieve that within the UNIX base that Mac OS X uses, in the sense that it would be very easy to circumvent using appropriate UNIX command lines with Terminal. I don't see Apple spending large amounts of resources to redesign Mac OS from the ground up, involving possibly the ditching of UNIX;

- The big software companies that have flagship products on the Mac (the likes of Microsoft with Office, Adobe with CS...) won't accept to maintain those product lines in such a locked ecosystem. Actually, I even doubt they will use the Apple App-Store at all, why would they give a 30% cut to Apple? So Apple can't lock Mac OS X iOS-style unless they decide to throw those very important developers out of the Mac platform, therefore making Macs basically useless for a large portion of the users.

Apple has valid technical reasons to lock the iOS devices in terms of apps, mainly battery life issues, but this is practically irrelevant in a Mac context.

 

[Beau10]

- The big software companies that have flagship products on the Mac (the likes of Microsoft with Office, Adobe with CS...) won't accept to maintain those product lines in such a locked ecosystem.

They'll accept whatever is profitable. If that doesn't pencil out, then they won't. I'm of the mind that it will be massively profitable in a way they have never seen before on this platform.

Anyone who scoffs at the 30% is not taking into account traditional distribution costs. It's rather cheap by comparison.

 

[Bernard SG]

They'll accept whatever is profitable. If that doesn't pencil out, then they won't. I'm of the mind that it will be massively profitable in a way they have never seen before on this platform.

Anyone who scoffs at the 30% is not taking into account traditional distribution costs. It's rather cheap by comparison.

I don't scoff at the 30%, I think it's a very fair deal for small & medium size developers with products that are relatively new and/or not widespread.
But I really struggle with your idea that an Apple-curated App-store would yield more profitability for a Microsoft or an Adobe. Moreover, I don't think their licensing systems is compliant with the Apple-store requirements. And last but not least, for a matter of principles, considering the bitter relationship between Apple & Adobe over the Flash debate, I'm sure the Adobe folks would rather die than give away 200 bucks to Apple for each sale of CS .