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Mac OS X Lion Set for Summer 2011 Debut, Mac App Store to Launch Within 90 Days

Here's my theory where OS X is going after seeing this today.

Get iPhones and iPads in the hands of hundreds of millions of people. Then they already know how to use the OS on the Mac. And after 10.7, OS X just becomes iOS 6.
 
Y'all do realize that the featured product in this announcement was the new Air, right? It was the "one more thing." Lion is a super early PREVIEW that they're going to demo more in chunks over the next few months.

That list is hardly exhaustive of the features. I'll certainly be underwhelmed if that was the entirety of the list. However, since I'm not a moron, I know that's not the case.

Also, given the iLife + shiny new toys setting of this event, if there's something like technical like a new filesystem, they're NOT going to talk about it here. That would make more sense at the WWDC.
 
miazma said:
That Mac App Store is a joke...

I mean sorry... What apps do you expect to get there? Whatever company is developing "real" applications for the mac wont give away 30% just for having the application placed in the app store so its easier to download and install it.
Click to expand...

What do companies developing real apps for the mac give now to middle men? A lot of times it's 45-50% or more.

There's a joke here, but I don't think it's the Mac App Store....
 
This is going to be a hard choice for me. I want iLife 11, but I'm on Leopard, so I would have to get SL too, but then knowing in 8 months Lion is going to be out? Decision decision.
 
Looks like an awesome update, if they don't forget about the two most important features of OS X for me:
Opening each folder in a different Finder window, and the Graphite colour scheme.
 
I want to see how Mission Control interacts with Spaces. I use Spaces far more than Expose, but the demo only showed the Expose-like functionality of Mission Control. I hope Mission Control's Spaces-like functionality works as well as it does in 10.6.

Also, I'm curious how Launchpad gets populated. If it's iOS-like, the Folders in it won't reflect the real file system. But then how will apps already in file system folders (e.g., Utilities) appear in it? I saw System Preferences on there, so it must work, but I want to know how.

Also, I hope they don't make it possible to make full-screen-only apps. It's a nice feature to have when you need it, but I don't want it to be the only one.
 
armoguy94 said:
I think that the 70/30 revenue ratio for author/apple in the Mac Store is a huge down side. While the Mac App store certainly may bring newfound attention to an application which previously would not be as known to the public, Apple's goal is to get more Mac marketshare, and more profit from that. While the App store may give Apple profit from leeching off developer's apps, no other operating system has that. It will be seen as a downside for developers to develop on the Mac, and that is the opposite of what Apple wants. With more developers for the Mac, there will be more users and more attention, and ultimately more innovation and leading progress - my speculation is that this will discourage developers to develop for the Mac by not getting all of the profits.

Also, as a 16 year old who only has $50 on my PayPal currently (and that happens less than once a year), I'm going to be weary on what applications to purchase and which to save my money on and pirate. While this may be objectable to many, I try my best to purchase my music and applications I use, and once I get a credit card I plan on doing so much more efficiently. The reason I might purchase an app is to support the developer and the firm. When Apple gets 30%, which is a big chunk of my money, it is discouraging not only for the developer but for the end user - especially a user like me with limited amounts of money - to purchase anything, because I know that the money is not going to who it deserves to be sent to.
Click to expand...

You're 16. You don't know how retail works. For Apple's 30%, you are getting exposure for your program, Apple handles the bandwidth, and simplified payment. You don't have to host, deal with credit cards payments/debit/Paypal or anything, just collect a check from Apple. Your world just got easier and you'll probably end up with the same amount of money. Remember -- Apple's interest isn't primarily in the revenue from the app, it's from people getting exposed to more apps and buying more Macs. This is a win for developers.

EDIT: And don't pirate software, kid.
 
I think the app store will be a hit. Especially for starter developers. They get there name out there, They don't need to worry getting a merchant for CC transactions and piracy could be limited.

As for the big companies, i don't think they will buy into the mac app store.
 
bankshot said:
  • Will it also be $99/year?
    Probably, just as the current Mac Developer program is already $99/year.
  • How will this affect freeware developers (why pay to release something for free)?
    Freeware developers will still have to pay. Why? Because that is part of the cost of joining the party. You don't think that what Apple contributes is worth anything?
Click to expand...
Answers within.
 
bankshot said:
The App Store brings many questions and concerns.
Click to expand...

one more thing...
will it be possible to paste your existing licenses into AppStore, or will you have to purchase them again if you want to take use of the consolidated updating?
 
Wow... how many years did they have to work on this? They threw these features together in a couple months! I'm not paying for this.

And as a professional, Im VERY worried about the future of the OSX platform.

Enjoy your itoys folks.
 
The Mac App Store is okay as long as it stays optional. My only big gripe with the iOS App Store is that it's the ONLY way to get software for iOS (baring jailbreaking).

So as long as Apple doesn't announce that because parents won't monitor their own kids App downloads, they're forced to force all software to be installed via the app store, I don't mind it.

For all those asking about how apple will approve apps: I'm sure the Mac App Store will have all the narrow-minded, bigoted censorship that the iOS app store does.

Launch pad: It's just the same putting icons on your desktop. Not really a new feature. Not interested.

Full screen apps: I have no problems working with multiple apps with multiple windows. In fact, my workflow requires it. Seems a huge step backward to go back to modal computing where you only run one app at a time (even if you can switch to other apps quickly). Yet another
dumbing down of the interface' 'new feature'. Not interested.

Mission control: I'd have to see in use before I make a final decision, but unless they restore the 10.5 expose layout as part of it, not that interested.

Overall if these are the 'big improvements' for Lion, color me not impressed. Kind of seems like something they could have come up after a couple hours in a meeting, rather than months of design time.
 
GregAndonian said:
This is disappointing to say the least- aside from Mission Control, there isn't really anything new and innovative here.
Click to expand...

I'm surprised anyone can say this - only a few features were revealed today. Apple didn't cover the whole of OSX Lion.

Your not getting the full picture yet your saying "OSX Lion" isn't 'new or innovative'?
 
Wirelessly posted (Mozilla/5.0 (iPhone; U; CPU iPhone OS 4_2 like Mac OS X; en-us) AppleWebKit/533.17.9 (KHTML, like Gecko) Version/5.0.2 Mobile/8C5115c Safari/6533.18.5)

I would say it's not even finished yet...
 
kuwisdelu said:
I want to see how Mission Control interacts with Spaces. I use Spaces far more than Expose, but the demo only showed the Expose-like functionality of Mission Control. I hope Mission Control's Spaces-like functionality works as well as it does in 10.6.
Click to expand...

I'll second that! That's the first thing that ran through my mind when I saw the demo. :confused:
 
I think I'll skip the Mac App Store. I prefer to give 100% of my money to the developers who did the actual work, not 30% to Apple for simply providing a place for them to hock their wares.

The "merging", if you will, of OS X and iOS is certainly interesting. Frankly, I don't see the purpose of the Launchpad at all, seeing as how most people keep their most important apps in the dock, and Spotlight (or Quicksilver, if we include third-party apps) can find and launch any app very quickly. Folders is even more puzzling.

Full screen looks amazing. I look forward to using that, as well as Mission Control.
 
Freeware developers don't need to join the Mac App Store, but if they do, they will be voided of bandwidth and they'll get much better advertising of their product (even freeware developers want their products to be downloaded by as many people as possible).

And /facepalm at some of the stupid remarks in this thread. We were shown some features of Lion, which will probably have 10x more features when released and some people are already saying things like "not worth the upgrade".
 
ggbrown said:
You're completely missing the point. The age old comment about Mac's is that there aren't enough programs out there for it. If you consider the opening comments about the growing Mac developer community and huge sales, it makes perfect sense. You provide a focussed repository of a huge variety of apps for people who are new to the Mac, that's a big win for the users and developers.
Click to expand...

I was going to say the same thing.

I also think the reasons for making the App Store avail prior to Lion are:

1) They finished their server farm and are currently staffing it.
2) This would give a nice user base of customers who are readily acquainted with the model and its more likely to meld into functionality of Lion than what was shown.
3) It allows developers who are currently familiar with the model for selling software for the I devices the same model to easily distribute versions of those or other apps for Mac's. Don't forget iOS is built on OSX. If they tried to build and app for OSX, they would have to bear the brunt of distribution, etc. They may have written great iOS apps but how would anyone know they made an OSX app. Unless you are a large player and have good press its not easy.

4) Don't overlook the customers that have started with an iOS product and now are looking at a Mac product. i.e. the ones that are enabling Apple to increase the Mac market share each year. They are familiar with the app store model. That is what they know about finding applications to run on their devices. Why not make it easier on all of Apples devices. I converted to Mac a couple of years ago. I had to look to forums like this to see what others are using on their machines, knowing there was not a plethora of mac applications avail. An app store with ratings, etc makes it that much easier.
 
All I can say is that I've been using Macs since the PPC days and I had very few programs, untill I got the iphone. I love the App store. I have an iPad and I really love the App store. I have no doubt that when I load the App store on my MacPro and Macbook I will go nuts. I spend more on those little $1-$5 programs in one year than I did in the 10 years before the iphone & ipad. I also love MacUpdate and Mac Bundle sales. I am who the App store is made for.
 
Stella said:
I'm surprised anyone can say this - only a few features were revealed today. Apple didn't cover the whole of OSX Lion.

Your not getting the full picture yet your saying "OSX Lion" isn't 'new or innovative'?
Click to expand...

One can only comment about what one has been given :). Sure, there could be some whole new bundle of awesomeness in Lion that we don't know about yet, but then again - there may not be. Personally I'm disappointed in the announcements. The new features even manage to make the Snow Leopard announcement look good, which I'd never have thought possible. I moved off an iPhone to a nexus one precisely because I hated the iOS limitations and close-mindedness. I still use OS X for work and for play, but if the future is an increasingly walled garden for my primary OS then Jobs can stick it where the sun don't shine. Sadly, I think that is his long-term goal.
 
Can iOS developers sell Mac apps on iTunes without paying?

Hi,

I'm signed up as an iOS developer but I actually developed a Mac version on my main app before I ported it to iOS. So I am inclined to sell the Mac version on iTunes.
But will I need to sign up as a Mac developer just to do this?

Thanks.
 
THIS IS SO AWESOME I CAN'T WAIT FOR SUMMER 2012!!... when it will be installable without the constant glitching.

Face it--this looks like a pretty anemic OS improvement.
 
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