Just because something is true for your particular product doesn't mean that it's true in general. Do you think most copies of Microsoft Office, for example, are purchased in electronic form or via a boxed version?
Clearly, some niche products aren't going to do well in a brick & mortar store (or even via mail-order) because they required educated customers to purchase them (that is, people have to know why they'd want to purchase "WebKnocker II" before they'd slap the money down for it). OTOH, if you had a product with genuine mass appeal *and* you advertised it properly, it would probably sell quite well in a B&M store. Of course, the advertising alone would cost you a lot more than 30%.
The real question I'd ask you is: how do you think your product would sell via the app store and would it be worth 30% to you? How many people visit your web site each day? Would your product sales benefit by having millions of people browsing the app store each day? (granted, only a small percent might see your product, but is that number greater than those who would otherwise find your website?)
Indeed some products are going to do better in stores than others, but I can't remember the last time I bought any software in a store, and none of my staff can either, and I can't think of anyone I know who has bought any software in physical form for the last several years. Even the big ones like the Adobe suite, I downloaded and purchased online.
Will our products be in the App store? Yes, you bet.
Do I think that 30% is a good deal? Yes.
Do I think the model needs to be tweaked for desktop software vs mobile software? Yes, by having try before you buy, so that it's possible for customers to experience the full power of the software and be prepared to pay the higher price for high quality desktop software.
Wow. If this happens once a month to you, you might want to consider purchasing an automatic password generator program and use that :-) You obviously don't know how to choose good passwords :-)
I use 1Password (brilliant software), and have a very strong password. Nobody has ever managed to access my account. All it takes is someone entering my apple id and any random password three times, and I'm locked out and have to go in and unlock it.
I saw no mention of in-app purchases. I wonder if they'll provide support for that?
It's implied in the app store rules: "Apps that unlock or enable additional features or functionality with mechanisms other than the App Store will be rejected, except in cases where the application hosts plug-ins or extensions."
That may be true for companies that distribute their own software, but the majority of software is still sold in brick & mortar stores, where the discount is closer to 50%.
Even when you use online distribution other than Apple's I doubt if the cut is much less than 30%.
I don't know what sort of software you're buying, but I can't remember the last time I went into a store and actually walked out with a box of software... Maybe when I bought Leopard. Most of the software I buy is directly from the application developers over the internet. These guys are all going to suffer.
All those things "will" benefit the user. Thank you apple.
I completely agree. Honestly, as a consumer I can tell you right off that I would feel a heck of a lot safer downloading something from the Apple app store than anywhere else. I may even think twice about downloading from elsewhere. With the amount of malicious software and customer apprehensions, it will be in developers best interests to get the seal of approval.
It will benefit everyone. If another competing app store offered this type attention to consumer protection I would shop there too. The last thing I want is the Android app type mess on my desktop. It's fine for geeks that have too much time on their hands, but not for the general consumer.
I completely agree. Honestly, as a consumer I can tell you right off that I would feel a heck of a lot safer downloading something from the Apple app store than anywhere else. I may even think twice about downloading from elsewhere. With the amount of malicious software and customer apprehensions, it will be in developers best interests to get the seal of approval.
It will benefit everyone. If another competing app store offered this type attention to consumer protection I would shop there too. The last thing I want is the Android app type mess on my desktop. It's fine for geeks that have too much time on their hands, but not for the general consumer.
This.
You guys are all computer savvy but put yourself into the shoes of the typical consumer who doesn't know who Panic or Rogue Amoeba is. How safe would you feel about buying software from a Dot Com named Rogue Amoeba?
The Mac App Store is going to deliver "instant" credibility with consumer just as the App Store has.
The App Store is a step to be able to use your apps on any Mac you log into.
To do that the license needs to be for multiple macs (but probably PER USER), the apps need to be self contained, they need to install very simply and in a standard way so the Mac can do it without user intervention and without restarting the Mac.
It's all linked to an online model (Apple's data centre) that allows people to login anywhere and use their apps with their data.
btw: Apple won't force people to use the App Store, but anyone who wants to move seamlessly between any Macs will be trying to make sure their apps are all from the App Store.
This site is frequently ignored for days or weeks at a time, whereas MacUpdate provides daily releases of information regarding new additions to the plethora of software developed or improved upon for Apple Macs.
Doesn't provide much confidence in the reliability of today's proposed AppStore.
Quite the contrary. In the app store model the developers keep their apps updated, not Apple.
If anything you have demonstrated why the App store will be far more successful than the downloads site could ever be.
"Apps that download other standalone apps will be rejected. Apps that install kexts (kernel extensions) will be rejected. Apps that require license keys or implement their own copy protection will be rejected. Apps that present a license screen at launch will be rejected. Apps may not use update mechanisms outside of the App Store.
there is no way anyone like adobe or MS are gonna conform to that. that alone rules out 90% of the apps out there. Even if the app store tags an application simiar to how it does itunes music, it'll never stop people from sharing it illlegally if serialisation is removed..granted people pirate serials too, but not so easily. this would be asking developers to just throw their hands in air and let even the most amature of piraters to share apps like they are MP3s.
the app store is pretty much a front to put your apps on map if you don't already got your own thing going. anyone that already has a strong brand would be giving up substancial profits and control of their product and simply won't do it with these rules.
That leaves out a lot of big Mac developers right there. I'm not sure how Omigraffle and Pixelmator (who have both said they were looking forward to the store AFAIK), are going to work around that.
Probably by (eagerly) dropping their own schemes and using the standard tools provided by Apple.
The fact that people like you see this as a negative just shows how little of the realities of software development you understand.
Probably by (eagerly) dropping their own schemes and using the standard tools provided by Apple.
The fact that people like you see this as a negative just shows how little of the realities of software development you understand.
How many developers love proclaiming "Inbox zero!" in their tweets. I think people are underestimating how much "support" costs in time and attention. The Mac App Store isn't going to eliminate support costs but it should reduce the "I lost my serial number" requests greatly.
I think about how easy this Mac App Store could be for the newbie developer that has no street cred. Getting your app on the store means it's at least functioning like you've said it would and you only pay if the app sells. You wouldn't even have to run a huge website ..simply point to the store and let Apple pay your bandwidth costs with that 30%.
It's not going to be a big deal for the larger companies but what they need to beware of is the smaller indie playing David to their Goliath.
Comments
Just because something is true for your particular product doesn't mean that it's true in general. Do you think most copies of Microsoft Office, for example, are purchased in electronic form or via a boxed version?
Clearly, some niche products aren't going to do well in a brick & mortar store (or even via mail-order) because they required educated customers to purchase them (that is, people have to know why they'd want to purchase "WebKnocker II" before they'd slap the money down for it). OTOH, if you had a product with genuine mass appeal *and* you advertised it properly, it would probably sell quite well in a B&M store. Of course, the advertising alone would cost you a lot more than 30%.
The real question I'd ask you is: how do you think your product would sell via the app store and would it be worth 30% to you? How many people visit your web site each day? Would your product sales benefit by having millions of people browsing the app store each day? (granted, only a small percent might see your product, but is that number greater than those who would otherwise find your website?)
Indeed some products are going to do better in stores than others, but I can't remember the last time I bought any software in a store, and none of my staff can either, and I can't think of anyone I know who has bought any software in physical form for the last several years. Even the big ones like the Adobe suite, I downloaded and purchased online.
Will our products be in the App store? Yes, you bet.
Do I think that 30% is a good deal? Yes.
Do I think the model needs to be tweaked for desktop software vs mobile software? Yes, by having try before you buy, so that it's possible for customers to experience the full power of the software and be prepared to pay the higher price for high quality desktop software.
Wow. If this happens once a month to you, you might want to consider purchasing an automatic password generator program and use that :-) You obviously don't know how to choose good passwords :-)
I use 1Password (brilliant software), and have a very strong password. Nobody has ever managed to access my account. All it takes is someone entering my apple id and any random password three times, and I'm locked out and have to go in and unlock it.
I saw no mention of in-app purchases. I wonder if they'll provide support for that?
It's implied in the app store rules: "Apps that unlock or enable additional features or functionality with mechanisms other than the App Store will be rejected, except in cases where the application hosts plug-ins or extensions."
That may be true for companies that distribute their own software, but the majority of software is still sold in brick & mortar stores, where the discount is closer to 50%.
Even when you use online distribution other than Apple's I doubt if the cut is much less than 30%.
I don't know what sort of software you're buying, but I can't remember the last time I went into a store and actually walked out with a box of software... Maybe when I bought Leopard. Most of the software I buy is directly from the application developers over the internet. These guys are all going to suffer.
All those things "will" benefit the user. Thank you apple.
I completely agree. Honestly, as a consumer I can tell you right off that I would feel a heck of a lot safer downloading something from the Apple app store than anywhere else. I may even think twice about downloading from elsewhere. With the amount of malicious software and customer apprehensions, it will be in developers best interests to get the seal of approval.
It will benefit everyone. If another competing app store offered this type attention to consumer protection I would shop there too. The last thing I want is the Android app type mess on my desktop. It's fine for geeks that have too much time on their hands, but not for the general consumer.
I completely agree. Honestly, as a consumer I can tell you right off that I would feel a heck of a lot safer downloading something from the Apple app store than anywhere else. I may even think twice about downloading from elsewhere. With the amount of malicious software and customer apprehensions, it will be in developers best interests to get the seal of approval.
It will benefit everyone. If another competing app store offered this type attention to consumer protection I would shop there too. The last thing I want is the Android app type mess on my desktop. It's fine for geeks that have too much time on their hands, but not for the general consumer.
This.
You guys are all computer savvy but put yourself into the shoes of the typical consumer who doesn't know who Panic or Rogue Amoeba is. How safe would you feel about buying software from a Dot Com named Rogue Amoeba?
The Mac App Store is going to deliver "instant" credibility with consumer just as the App Store has.
Most distribution mechanisms where the developer doens't have his own merchant account (most don't) take anywhere from 10-50%.
Name three.
To do that the license needs to be for multiple macs (but probably PER USER), the apps need to be self contained, they need to install very simply and in a standard way so the Mac can do it without user intervention and without restarting the Mac.
It's all linked to an online model (Apple's data centre) that allows people to login anywhere and use their apps with their data.
btw: Apple won't force people to use the App Store, but anyone who wants to move seamlessly between any Macs will be trying to make sure their apps are all from the App Store.
http://www.apple.com/downloads/macosx/
This site is frequently ignored for days or weeks at a time, whereas MacUpdate provides daily releases of information regarding new additions to the plethora of software developed or improved upon for Apple Macs.
Doesn't provide much confidence in the reliability of today's proposed AppStore.
Quite the contrary. In the app store model the developers keep their apps updated, not Apple.
If anything you have demonstrated why the App store will be far more successful than the downloads site could ever be.
I think it's really time to move on to more open and free platforms
Hopefully ones that can assist you with reading comprehension as well
"Apps that download other standalone apps will be rejected. Apps that install kexts (kernel extensions) will be rejected. Apps that require license keys or implement their own copy protection will be rejected. Apps that present a license screen at launch will be rejected. Apps may not use update mechanisms outside of the App Store.
there is no way anyone like adobe or MS are gonna conform to that. that alone rules out 90% of the apps out there. Even if the app store tags an application simiar to how it does itunes music, it'll never stop people from sharing it illlegally if serialisation is removed..granted people pirate serials too, but not so easily. this would be asking developers to just throw their hands in air and let even the most amature of piraters to share apps like they are MP3s.
the app store is pretty much a front to put your apps on map if you don't already got your own thing going. anyone that already has a strong brand would be giving up substancial profits and control of their product and simply won't do it with these rules.
That leaves out a lot of big Mac developers right there. I'm not sure how Omigraffle and Pixelmator (who have both said they were looking forward to the store AFAIK), are going to work around that.
Probably by (eagerly) dropping their own schemes and using the standard tools provided by Apple.
The fact that people like you see this as a negative just shows how little of the realities of software development you understand.
Even when Apple itself does not follow these rules for their own Mac applications?
Sure - those applications just won't be distributed in the app store
Within a year's time, I'd bet money that Microsoft will "suddenly" decide to open their own Window's App Store.
The Zune app store for Windows - coming to a photo copier near you
Probably by (eagerly) dropping their own schemes and using the standard tools provided by Apple.
The fact that people like you see this as a negative just shows how little of the realities of software development you understand.
How many developers love proclaiming "Inbox zero!" in their tweets. I think people are underestimating how much "support" costs in time and attention. The Mac App Store isn't going to eliminate support costs but it should reduce the "I lost my serial number" requests greatly.
I think about how easy this Mac App Store could be for the newbie developer that has no street cred. Getting your app on the store means it's at least functioning like you've said it would and you only pay if the app sells. You wouldn't even have to run a huge website ..simply point to the store and let Apple pay your bandwidth costs with that 30%.
It's not going to be a big deal for the larger companies but what they need to beware of is the smaller indie playing David to their Goliath.
Few developers are going to put up with this (let alone pay 30% for the privilege), and those that do will mostly be iPhone ports.
Saving this to come back a year from now. Will also give you plenty of time to decide how you like your crow served.
30% is a shitty deal and dead in the water for anyone other than possibly iPhone developers who don't have the initiative to figure it out.
Caw, caw...
Just don't give me any Mac Fart apps :-)
AFAIK, nobody can "give you" what you "refuse to take".
Perhaps you can elaborate on the problems *you've* had with the iTunes store?
That it's successful despite his irrational hate for it?
Even when Apple itself does not follow these rules for their own Mac applications?
They own the store, they can do what they want. ..... build your own store, then you can do what you want.