No license keys? Why do you need license keys? You're now in the iTunes ecosystem like apps on iDevices.
No optional add ons? For a start, java isn't optional on OS X. Apps on iOS are completely self-contained. I guess the same philosophy is coming to the Mac. Not surprising but there are potential issues I guess.
No root privileges? This one has potential issues but I guess apple wants to play it safe. Not surprising.
Same censorship as the App Store? I took this as a given when I heard about it. No issue here.
The author's bias is pretty obvious and expect the Apple-haters to roll out the predictable criticisms.
But apps don't need to be distributed via the app store on the Mac. You can still use download links from a website at which point it's a question of choice as to whether you want to be part of that ecosystem.
I see a bigger issue being the 70/30 split. 30% is a lot to lose when you can sell it yourself. Even small sellers can use third party payment services. It'll be interesting to see how the software makers big and small react to this.
I suspect that those in the app store will sell more units. This is probably why Steve pushed the discovery argument (with some merit).
30% may be a reasonable trade-off. For that 30%, you get:
- Eyeballs! (A potentially huge built-in audience and higher chance of discovery)
- A payment infrastructure that users are already comfortable with
- An update infrastructure
- In-app purchase (I assume?)
- DRM (?) if you care about that sort of thing
All in all, this sounds like a fair trade to me.
My guess is that serious indie devs will target the OSX app store first, and later build in third-party payment + update. Early 2011 will be an interesting time for the Apple MicroISVs.
I agree with your last statement: it'll be adopted more quickly by indie developers. I also agree that the arguments you list could be compelling for many.
The question I have is what will the likes of Adobe do?
I think the Mac App Store will see an avalanche of cheap/free apps, which is probably a good thing, as to do these with your own website and payment gateway infrastructure is probably uneconomic.
License keys can be really useful for institution-wide software licensing. Imagine an advertising agency trying to buy 30 instances of Photoshop. How are they going to do that with the App Store? Without some support for bundle purchases, the Mac App Store won't be very useful for developers of software for a professional audience.
I don't think Apple is aiming to provide a means of covering every possible kind of licensing deal a developer might potentially want to strike. They're aiming this at average, small developer to lone buyer sales.
If the bulk of your sales are site-licenses to labs and universities, this app store probably isn't the correct venue for your product.
"Without some support for bundle purchases, the Mac App Store won't be very useful for developers of software for a professional audience."
They generally don't need it. They don't need the infrastructure, they don't need the exposure, they don't want to give up 30% on each sale, they don't want to be limited to Apple's low-end app licensing approach.
Adobe, Matlab, Autodesk, Mathematica, these sorts of companies will continue selling the way they have been. No harm, no foul.
The App Store is for apps akin to what's on iOS. It's possible Adobe could throw a mini-Photoshop Elements on there, but they aren't going to put CS5 on the App Store.
The App Store has always had this "problem". Just like an IT desk can't easily manage, say, 500 iPads. That's really what Windows is built for. Apple is really targeting consumers not enterprise customers.
I'm not talking about large enterprises, I'm talking about small-to-medium creative workshops, a sector where Apple is traditionally very strong in. At my day job, we got a bunch of composers with high-end Mac Pros with Logic Pro installed on them, and believe me, we're very far from being "enterprise". We got producers, graphic designers and so on. These people would rather quit than ever use a PC. My point is, it looks like that the Mac App Store is not intended for this kind of audience, which is a shame because creatives and media people are a very core user group of the Mac, the kind of customers that were loyal to Apple even during its darkest hours in the mid-90's.
Comments
No beta software? Great.
No license keys? Why do you need license keys? You're now in the iTunes ecosystem like apps on iDevices.
No optional add ons? For a start, java isn't optional on OS X. Apps on iOS are completely self-contained. I guess the same philosophy is coming to the Mac. Not surprising but there are potential issues I guess.
No root privileges? This one has potential issues but I guess apple wants to play it safe. Not surprising.
Same censorship as the App Store? I took this as a given when I heard about it. No issue here.
The author's bias is pretty obvious and expect the Apple-haters to roll out the predictable criticisms.
But apps don't need to be distributed via the app store on the Mac. You can still use download links from a website at which point it's a question of choice as to whether you want to be part of that ecosystem.
I see a bigger issue being the 70/30 split. 30% is a lot to lose when you can sell it yourself. Even small sellers can use third party payment services. It'll be interesting to see how the software makers big and small react to this.
I suspect that those in the app store will sell more units. This is probably why Steve pushed the discovery argument (with some merit).
30% may be a reasonable trade-off. For that 30%, you get:
- Eyeballs! (A potentially huge built-in audience and higher chance of discovery)
- A payment infrastructure that users are already comfortable with
- An update infrastructure
- In-app purchase (I assume?)
- DRM (?) if you care about that sort of thing
All in all, this sounds like a fair trade to me.
My guess is that serious indie devs will target the OSX app store first, and later build in third-party payment + update. Early 2011 will be an interesting time for the Apple MicroISVs.
I agree with your last statement: it'll be adopted more quickly by indie developers. I also agree that the arguments you list could be compelling for many.
The question I have is what will the likes of Adobe do?
I think the Mac App Store will see an avalanche of cheap/free apps, which is probably a good thing, as to do these with your own website and payment gateway infrastructure is probably uneconomic.
License keys can be really useful for institution-wide software licensing. Imagine an advertising agency trying to buy 30 instances of Photoshop. How are they going to do that with the App Store? Without some support for bundle purchases, the Mac App Store won't be very useful for developers of software for a professional audience.
I don't think Apple is aiming to provide a means of covering every possible kind of licensing deal a developer might potentially want to strike. They're aiming this at average, small developer to lone buyer sales.
If the bulk of your sales are site-licenses to labs and universities, this app store probably isn't the correct venue for your product.
"Without some support for bundle purchases, the Mac App Store won't be very useful for developers of software for a professional audience."
They generally don't need it. They don't need the infrastructure, they don't need the exposure, they don't want to give up 30% on each sale, they don't want to be limited to Apple's low-end app licensing approach.
Adobe, Matlab, Autodesk, Mathematica, these sorts of companies will continue selling the way they have been. No harm, no foul.
The App Store is for apps akin to what's on iOS. It's possible Adobe could throw a mini-Photoshop Elements on there, but they aren't going to put CS5 on the App Store.
The App Store has always had this "problem". Just like an IT desk can't easily manage, say, 500 iPads. That's really what Windows is built for. Apple is really targeting consumers not enterprise customers.
I'm not talking about large enterprises, I'm talking about small-to-medium creative workshops, a sector where Apple is traditionally very strong in. At my day job, we got a bunch of composers with high-end Mac Pros with Logic Pro installed on them, and believe me, we're very far from being "enterprise". We got producers, graphic designers and so on. These people would rather quit than ever use a PC. My point is, it looks like that the Mac App Store is not intended for this kind of audience, which is a shame because creatives and media people are a very core user group of the Mac, the kind of customers that were loyal to Apple even during its darkest hours in the mid-90's.