App Store for Mac highlights two major App Store flaws
The idea of a Mac App Store is great... from a certain point of view. As it currently exists, the App Store has several problems and limitations which could be fairly easily removed.
1. Demos/Trial Periods/Returns: I'm not going to state unequivocally that Apple will have demos in the Mac App Store, but I will state unequivocally that Apple should have demos in the Mac App Store. As noted earlier, the Mac App Store guidelines state "Apps that are 'beta', 'demo', 'trial', or 'test' versions will be rejected." That's the same as the iOS App Store guidelines.
That should change. Demos aren't just for small developers. Apple has offered demos for their apps, including iWork and Aperture. Adobe and Microsoft have as well. They give users a chance to try out an application without having to commit to it. This concept is almost as old as computers themselves.
Apple could address this very simply, without forcing users to understand 'demo' or 'trial' versions. All they need to do is say, "You have X days to change your mind after you download an app." Maybe it's two days, maybe seven, but some clearly defined window of opportunity. Most people are going to buy and go on. Some who buy and don't like it will delete it. The App Store will know what apps you have installed. If you delete it before the return window closes, Apple simply doesn't charge your credit card. That saves the developers from losing 30% of the cost of their app on a return, and Apple already purchases some length of time before processing them.
Amazon lets users return Kindle content for 7 days after purchase (hat tip to Patrick Burleson for that one!), and Android has as similar return window. Don't tell me Apple can't do the same thing.
2. Upgrade pricing: Right now, developers have no way of giving free or discounted upgrades to existing customers. This has been a problem that Apple was going to need to address even without a Mac App Store. Sure you may be willing to spend $40 on OmniFocus for iPad, but are you going to be equally willing to spend $40 for version 2? The folks at Iconfactory were skewered over a $5 upgrade for Twitterrific, can you imagine what OmniGroup is going to face when their apps come up for upgrade?
Again, this is a simple fix: Developers should be able to set two prices: one for those who have bought a previous version, and another for those who haven't. Apple knows your purchase history, and should simply display the appropriate price in the App Store. It's not rocket science.
Apple doesn't do upgrade pricing for its consumer apps. If you go to buy iWork or iLife, you're paying the same price regardless of whether you've been an iLife user since the beginning or whether you're just picking it up. Logic Express, Aperture, Final Cut Express, and Final Cut Studio all have upgrade pricing.
These are both problems which existed yesterday before there was a Mac App Store, but the existence of a Mac App Store just makes these two problems all the more obvious. Both could be easily fixed, but it's entirely up to Apple to fix them. Doing so will benefit not just Mac users, but iOS users too.
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The idea of a Mac App Store is great... from a certain point of view. As it currently exists, the App Store has several problems and...
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As a few posters have already said this is going to be an evolving store much as the iPhone App Store and its siblings have been.
Personally I feel it will give developers the chance to get their products exposed to a much wider audience than ever before. Unless you read the blogs or visit the now much less promoted Downloads section on the Apple website there is very little exposure to what Applications are available for the Mac. Word of mouth and recommendations have been the main ways I have picked up on applications in the past. Imagine now though there is one place to go and look for the most recent and featured Mac Apps.
I am also wondering if Apple will introduce its iAd platform for developers to use in app?
Both of those problems can be solved by the developer making the application free with limited functionality and offering in-app upgrades so that the user can purchase extra functionality or new versions of the application.
~SaberUK
I think that trials/demos/etc. are a good thing for users.
But, for Apple, they are "costs."
I also think that they learned that from the App Store.
If we take away the "marketing boon" of 300.000 apps, the only ones that pay the bills for Apple are the paid ones: free go in the loss column (bandwith, storage, etc.)
If Apple allows trials/demos/etc., it will be paying for the developers advertisement. Selling only final apps, Apple receives it fare amount of money for what it does.
As many pointed, developers can have their own site to offer fre trials/demos, and pay their bills for themselves.
I do not think that the initial estimates (for the free/paid and paid range) for the App Store were the same that the actual situaltion: and that is what --I think-- Apple is trying to solve. Remember, at the end, Apple is obliged not to loose money.
THe problem with relating demos to Kindle content is that you can't CREATE anything with Kindle content, you're buying the content itself.
With apps, you can try it, use it for the purpose you need it for and then not pay for the app, with no method to revoke the created content unless you look that content within the app itself, which most developers won't do. Some apps could still benefit from the demo model, yes, but if the system isn't universal for all apps, a demo structure breaks down and shows an unfair bias towards apps that don't create content.
All sorts of apps that currently have time-limited demos can be used to create content before the end of the trial period. That's nothing new.
The problem which would have to be addressed is "I download this app and delete it after 2 days" and then repeat that process 40 times. Mac app demos can currently deal with that by leaving some sort of file behind that the app, upon being reinstalled, can tell means that the app has previously been used/installed. On iOS devices that's a problem because all the information about an app is currently deleted when the app is deleted.
I'm not saying its insurmountable, but yup, that's definitely a potential problem.
Also meant to say:
On the Kindle you're paying for the content you get to use for 7 days. I know lots of people who could read lots of books in less than 7 days and then delete/return it.
Of course, the Kindle also knows how far you've read in a book, and I could see them saying "Your Kindle shows you've read that book, so you can't return it."
Likewise, Apple could keep a tally of the total number of days that an app has been in your possession, and then say, "You can delete that, but you can't get your money back for it."
Apple should allow beta...Their Facetime is a beta Now!
Apple is turning into an evil empire now...
I'm wondering if Apple would also reject shareware type apps as well as trials.
October 21 2010 at 1:40 AM Report abuse Permalink rate up rate down ReplyThe problem with the Mac App Store is that it isn't the only game in town. If there was a way (sans jailbreaking and warranty-voiding) to get apps onto an iPhone, people (and developers) would totally go for it. Unless Apple wants to take pains to kill off the traditional ways of getting Mac apps, the status quo will win out. All of the problems you describe can be avoided, simply by developers continuing to do what they've been doing the last 20+ years.
October 21 2010 at 1:22 AM Report abuse Permalink rate up rate down ReplyIf people's experiences with the iOS App Store is any indication (and I believe it is), the Mac App Store will immediately become the single easiest way to find and install software on OS X. It also has a couple of years of brand/experience recognition behind it thanks to iOS. I'm not saying that this means it'll choke off other avenues of software acquisition — because it won't — but that the App Store will easily rise to a prominent position among those avenues.
It may actually be a bit like the story of Internet Explorer: users had a choice of Netscape, which they could get for free with relative ease, or IE, which was also free, but *already bundled on their computer*. They didn't even have to expend the effort of going out and looking for it. Likewise, the Mac App Store is going to be sitting right in front of every OS X Lion user out-of-the-box, so most of them are bound to at least try it out.
I have a feeling this is the first small step to phasing out their macbook and macbook pro line all together. I think in the next 5 - 10 years apple laptops will be only macbook airs and start resembling iOS more than OSX. I think there are good reasons to believe this.
First, Apple is slowly starting to migrate their iOS system to OSX (IMO, it's needless)
Second, Apple has opened a store that does not require physical media (not a huge deal, but it does point to the macbook air taking over!)
Third, There was a comment during the event when Jobs said that he believed all laptops will one day be like the macbook air.
This is only a guess to Apple's direction.
I don't think the Mac App Store will exactly the same as far as trials etc go. It seems like it is just a place which lists out all approved mac apps. I think the stipulations and details will be maintained by the developer as it is now.
October 21 2010 at 12:48 AM Report abuse Permalink rate up rate down ReplyI think eventually the appstore should have the mechanism to handle all these.
But then Apple might think it's just too complicated for people who uses the appstore.
Maybe what will happen is, apps will go through alpha/beta/demo outside the appstore environment. When it's ready it'll be released on the appstore.
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