No Mac App Store Promo Codes, iOS/Mac App Names, Push Notification Security

[MacRumors]

In addition to today's news that promo codes for applications in Apple's iOS App Store are now valid worldwide, several other items of interest related to the iOS and Mac App Stores have surfaced yesterday and today.

First, MacStories notes that the latest version of Apple's iTunes Connect Developer Guide makes clear that promo codes will not be available for Mac App Store applications. In conjunction with last week's tip that Apple will not permit "demos, trial versions, or betas" of applications in the Mac App Store, this latest bit of info suggest that Apple will be fairly restrictive in what can be offered through the Mac App Store, preferring that developers use their own sites for non-mainstream distribution for testing and review purposes.

Given that Mac OS X is much more open than iOS in terms of officially-supported application distribution mechanisms, it appears that Apple feels that limiting its role to mainstream distribution is a preferred strategy, at least for the time being.

Second, Apple yesterday announced on its developer news page that iOS developers can now submit Mac OS X versions of their applications to the Mac App Store with the same names as their corresponding iOS applications. Apple had previously required that applications in the two stores carry different names, but has apparently now opted to support the branding and consistency permitted by using the same name for a given application on each platform.

Finally, iClarified reports that Apple has informed iOS developers that it will be upgrading the security on its push notification service as of December 22nd, introducing 2048-bit certificates to ensure greater security for connections between applications' notification provider servers and Apple's servers. The change will not require modifications to iOS applications, but will require developers to update their notification servers with the new certificate.

Article Link: More App Store News: No Mac App Store Promo Codes, iOS/Mac App Names, Push Notification Security

 

[Popeye206]

Oh oh... here comes all the flame posts!

Based on the last article about the App store, there should be lots of juicy senseless flames coming soon to this string! LOL!

My opinion... Rock on Apple! Should be great!

 

[jent]

Anyone think there are some developers out there that don't actively update their apps anymore and won't even update their notification servers with the new certificate? I hope no apps go obsolete due to lack of that minor update.

 

[Mr. Gates]

What? Less benefit for the user !

Oh ......

Well, what if I just download direct from the developer ?

What if I do other things to insure my freedom?

Well, ....That's where it seems to be going if Apple continues to be so power hungry.

Support for the developer starts at the promo stage, not the first buck.

 

[RoboCop001]

This can only mean one thing......


Angry Birds and Doodlejump for Mac!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

 

[Cougarcat]

This can only mean one thing......


Angry Birds and Doodlejump for Mac!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

You can already get Harbor Master and Zen Bound on Steam for PC/Mac, so why not?

 

[rmwebs]

This can only mean one thing......


Angry Birds and Doodlejump for Mac!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

Maybe thats the motive with the Mac AppStore - get iOS developers to port their apps to the Mac (but not windows because obviously its a different codebase) and this in turn will boost mac sales.

 

[ericinboston]

Maybe I am mistaken...and please correct me (with some examples please) if I am wrong: Isn't the whole point of the Mac App Store so that it is THE ONLY MECHANISM to get software onto your Mac? Meaning...no more downloading of apps via your browser or ftp client and double clicking them.

If I am correct, I would think this is a terrible idea for the Mac community...to be forced to "get" apps only through Apple's proprietary and closed-loop distribution channel.

 

[Cougarcat]

Maybe I am mistaken...and please correct me (with some examples please) if I am wrong: Isn't the whole point of the Mac App Store so that it is THE ONLY MECHANISM to get software onto your Mac? Meaning...no more downloading of apps via your browser or ftp client and double clicking them.

It's just an additional way to download apps. It doesn't replace traditional methods, despite what tinfoil hat-wearing people on these boards would like you to believe.

 

[Phil A.]

Wirelessly posted (iPhone 4: 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)

Maybe I am mistaken...and please correct me (with some examples please) if I am wrong: Isn't the whole point of the Mac App Store so that it is THE ONLY MECHANISM to get software onto your Mac? Meaning...no more downloading of apps via your browser or ftp client and double clicking them.

If I am correct, I would think this is a terrible idea for the Mac community...to be forced to "get" apps only through Apple's proprietary and closed-loop distribution channel.

Fortunately, you are completely wrong and the Mac App Store will be an additional way (not the only way) to get apps for OS X. steve jobs made this very clear during the keynote that previewed the app store and OS X lion.

 

[Illusion986]

Sounds pretty ridiculous....Ill stick with buying from developers directly and of course mupromo.com

 

[PlayRadioPlay]

Maybe I am mistaken...and please correct me (with some examples please) if I am wrong: Isn't the whole point of the Mac App Store so that it is THE ONLY MECHANISM to get software onto your Mac? Meaning...no more downloading of apps via your browser or ftp client and double clicking them.

If I am correct, I would think this is a terrible idea for the Mac community...to be forced to "get" apps only through Apple's proprietary and closed-loop distribution channel.

The fact that Apple wants devs to distribute trial and demo software through their own websites should be the perfect indicator that Apple has no plans to limit people's choices on getting applications.

If Apple said "We'll have a trial/demo section." then it would be much more worrisome to the conspiracy theorists since Apple would be trying to put everything under one roof.

But they're not. The conspiracies are baseless and ridiculous. People will continue to get software any way they like. Apple just wants to have an additional option for extra revenue.

I'm sure I'll use the Mac App store for some stuff, but not all. Most people will probably be that way.

 

[JAT]

Devs will probably be able to offer discounts by lowering the price for a short while, just like the App Store. "No Promos" means Apple won't give them. To start. Of course, they didn't even give apps at first when the iPhone came out. I seem to recall that changing.

 

[sniffies]

Could someone explain to me why one would choose Mac App Store over, say, macupdate.com???

 

[kas23]

Could someone explain to me why one would choose Mac App Store over, say, macupdate.com???

That's really cool. I never knew about this website. But, I still know the difference. Apple doesn't make any money off of macupdate.com.

 

[Stridder44]

Maybe I am mistaken...and please correct me (with some examples please) if I am wrong: Isn't the whole point of the Mac App Store so that it is THE ONLY MECHANISM to get software onto your Mac? Meaning...no more downloading of apps via your browser or ftp client and double clicking them.

If I am correct, I would think this is a terrible idea for the Mac community...to be forced to "get" apps only through Apple's proprietary and closed-loop distribution channel.

HELL no. That would be THE stupidest thing imaginable, even for wall-garden/power-hungry Apple. If that happened I would permanently switch to Windows, but again, I could not see Apple making that stupid of a move. And even if they did manage to become that stupid, I don't see anyone really follow that rule. I mean how the hell do you force that kind of thing?

Again, I do not in any way see that ever happening. It is a great idea, but not a replacement for what's already in place.

 

[Jason Edwards]

I agree in that I do not believe Apple is wanting to limit or control what people can put on their Macs. I am however a little worried that Apple is dumbing/simplifying things down too much. I know they are really targeting the consumer market and its paying off very well for them. I just hope apps do not start becoming OSX versions of iOS apps in that they are simple and lack a lot of features full blown computer apps have. I get why they are like that for the iPhone/iPad devices. Does that make sense ?

Jason

 

[Chupa Chupa]

I still don't understand the logic of not allowing trial versions. Hear me out:

If a consumer has to go to a developer's site or other site like MacUpdate, Versiontracker, etc. to d/l a trial version then why would they go back to the Mac App Store to buy the full version? Most trialware has the ability for users to upgrade to the full version directly from the trialware.

It makes more sense to me for Apple to allow trialware similar to the iOS app store where users can purchase the full version in app. Apple still gets its cut this way. As-is it seems it is actually leaving money on the table.

 

[Cougarcat]

Could someone explain to me why one would choose Mac App Store over, say, macupdate.com???

Seamless installs and updates, like iOS.

 

[Apple Corps]

Is the thinking that many of the iPhone and / or iPad apps will be "ported" out for Macs?

 

[firewood]

Maybe I am mistaken...and please correct me (with some examples please) if I am wrong: Isn't the whole point of the Mac App Store so that it is THE ONLY MECHANISM to get software onto your Mac? Meaning...no more downloading of apps via your browser or ftp client and double clicking them.

How would Apple do that and still compete against Linux and Windows PCs in the educational, professional and enterprise markets?

 

[firewood]

Could someone explain to me why one would choose Mac App Store over, say, macupdate.com???

Rounded to the nearest ten percent, zero typical Mac consumer customers have even heard of macupdate. Whereas Apple will make sure that most of them will know about the Mac App Store inside iTunes.

 

[Mal]

Rounded to the nearest ten percent, zero typical Mac consumer customers have even heard of macupdate. Whereas Apple will make sure that most of them will know about the Mac App Store inside iTunes.

Inside iTunes? The Mac App Store isn't part of iTunes, it's a separate app.

I agree on the statistics on MacUpdate, though (and I'm a big fan of MacUpdate, though I liked VersionTracker better, before…).

jW

 

[Bubba Satori]

Oh oh... here comes all the flame posts!

Based on the last article about the App store, there should be lots of juicy senseless flames coming soon to this string! LOL!

My opinion... Rock on Apple! Should be great!

Preemptive fanbois apologetics.
How clever. Rock on, dude.
Scary cult is scary.