Well, it’s happened. The Mac App Store is coming to the Mac in the next 90 days:
The Mac App Store is just like the App Store for iPhone, iPod touch, and iPad. So it’s as easy to find and download Mac apps as it is to add your favorite magazine to iPad or a new game to iPod touch. You can browse Mac apps by category, such as games, productivity, music, and more. Or do a quick search for something specific. Read developer descriptions and user reviews. Flip through screenshots. When you find an app you like, click to buy it.
Sound familiar? It should, as Apple is basically bringing one of the keystones of iOS to the desktop.
On the Mac Developer webpage, Apple outlines the benefits for developers of selling software in the App Store:
- You pick the price
- You get 70% of sales revenue
- Receive checks monthly
- No charge for free apps
- No credit card fees
- No hosting fees
- No marketing fees
Sound familiar? It should, as these benefits are the same one Apple uses to sell developers on using the iOS App Store.
I think that most Mac developers — especially the smaller ones — will greatly benefit from an App Store. Getting in front of millions of users is something most developers simply can’t do on their own. Plus, with Apple handling the hosting, credit card processing and marketing, developers can spend more resources on what counts — building applications.
Customers will benefit, too. This will greatly simplify the app installation process for Mac users. I bet most average Mac users run Firefox and Skype from disk images because they don’t understand how DMGs work.
Additionally, by tying purchases to iTunes accounts, it makes for an easy, simple way to spend money. The function of re-downloading apps will make it easier to move to a new computer as well, if a migration isn’t possible.
However, the same fears that surround the iOS App Store will surround the Mac App Store. Will Apple reject Mac apps for silly reasons? Can Apple’s already slow approval process handle an influx of Mac apps? Will Apple post rules for developers? Will Apple accept apps built with XCode only? Isn’t this another example of DRM creeping into things?
While most of these answers remain unknown, I think the biggest fear is that Apple won’t allow users to install non-approved applications.
The key difference between the two platforms is that the on iOS devices, the App Store is the only way to get apps. On the Mac that is not the case. Users will still be able to download apps from the Internet and install them. While some people are jumping up and down that this is the beginning of the end of OS X as a flexible, “open” platform, I’m not convinced it is. Yes, the Mac App Store raises questions and some concerns, but I just don’t see Apple stopping users from installing their own programs.
For one, I don’t think Adobe Creative Suite or Microsoft Office will ever be on the Mac App Store. Period. Adobe uses the iOS App Store because it’s the only option — they aren’t going to jump into a Mac App Store after doing things a certain way on the desktop for two decades. If the only way to a Mac is the App Store, the Mac will starve from the lack of high-end programs.
Secondly, since Apple more than likely won’t accept programs like torrent clients, there will always be an desire from the Mac user base to keep side-loading an option.
Yes, most people will probably get most of their apps from the App Store eventually.
But most and all are very, very different words.