The Mac App Store: The Good, the Bad & the Unknown ~ CK

Last week, Apple officially announced the Mac App Store as a major new addition to the Mac software ecosystem. Although the Mac App Store will be an integral part of Mac OS X Lion, it will make its debut this winter. Developers will be able to start submitting their applications for review in November.

Since the announcement, a flurry of questions, concerns and expositions have hit the web – from Mac users and Mac developers alike. Ten days later, there are still more questions than answers, but developers are hesitantly optimistic about this new potential revenue stream.

We’ve spoken with a number of Mac developers to get their thoughts on the Mac App Store and what their concerns are for the future. We’ve also evaluated Apple’s Mac App Store Review Guidelines to see just what concessions developers will need to make to be included in the Mac App Store. Finally, we have our own thoughts on what this means for the future of Mac software, for users and future developers.

Not Participating in the Store, “A Mistake” for Developers

When I think of successful independent Mac software developers, I always look at Daniel Jalkut. Jalkut, founder of Red Sweater and developer of apps like MarsEdit and Black Ink, was a software engineer at Apple from 1996 to 2002. In August, Jalkut penned an essay for Macworld titled “Why I’m sticking with the Mac.”

When we spoke to him last week after Apple’s announcement, Jalkut said one of his concerns about the Mac App Store was whether he was going to lose his connections with customers.

“Starting with the Mac App Store we don’t know if the same shift will take place, where the customers are Apple’s, and we’re just manufacturers for Apple,” he said.

When we mentioned the possibility of customers still being able to buy apps directly from a developer, Jalkut responded, “Yes, but even then there is a shift where some set of my customers will be ‘mystery’ customers.”

Still, for Jalkut, these concerns are ultimately irrelevant. “It might be worth complaining about some things. But I am either going to stay a Mac developer or quit,” he said.

According to Jalkut, it would be a mistake not to take part in the Mac App Store.

“After Apple’s success with the iOS App Store, many customers will think this is the only way to get software,” he said. “And by streamlining the install process, many customers who do know about other channels will find them distasteful in comparison.”

Jalkut pointed out that an important difference between the Mac App Store and the iOS App Store is that “the Mac App Store is opt-in, but that means it’s also opt-out. So one major advantage versus the App Store is you can develop a Mac app, try to sell it through the Apple store, and if you’re not happy with it, or they’re taking too much of a cut, or they reject it, you’re not completely left out in the cold.”

Growing Pains for Existing Developers

Layton Duncan, founder of the iOS shop Polar Bear Farm, blogged his own response last week. As he says in his post, “I can’t help but think this should be exciting for both developers and customers, but right now my overwhelming feeling is a muted, conflicted ‘hmmmm.’ ”

His reaction matches that of many existing Mac developers, because the structure of the Mac App Store review process is set up to mirror that of the iOS App Store. While there is a new review board and there are postedapp review guidelines, this also means that in order to be included in the store, developers will have to follow a set of rules that they didn’t have to follow before.

First, there’s the restriction of using undocumented APIs. This restriction is understandable, since Apple wants software to work as well as it can. But as Jalkut told us, responsible Mac developers go the extra miles for customers by carefully using private APIs.

“There is a way to use private APIs with a reasonable fallback should the private API not be available,” he said. “The rest is behavior that is 110% what the user expects, and even what Apple wants for software on the platform.”

That’s one potential hurdle. Another hurdle is that of pricing and upgrade pricing. If the Mac App Store is to follow the iOS App Store in its policies, it won’t be possible to do traditional “upgrade” pricing. Instead, developers have to look at either releasing in-purchase content kits (which don’t really work for a totally new app version) or charging all users the same price for a new version of the app.

There needs to be a way for app developers to handle upgrades, especially since a lot of users are going to buy apps in the Mac App Store that they previously purchased directly from the developer.

There’s also the issue of volume pricing and licensing. Yes, an advantage of the App Store is that Apple will presumably be handling the DRM and allowing the software to be used on whatever Macs are activated by the same iTunes account, but that puts developers in the position of having to lose the one license/one computer option. It also puts into question whether volume app store licenses will be available to businesses. Apple is making volume iOS purchases available to businesses, but it’s unclear if the Mac App Store will have these same provisions.

As an end user, software updates happen to be one of my bigger concerns. Thanks to the Sparkle framework used by virtually every Mac app not developed by Apple, it’s super easy for developers to push out updates to customers. As great as the update mechanism for the App Store is, its problem is that each update has to be cleared by another review. That’s a hassle for developers who already have very structured bug fix and feature addition workflows in place.

The Future of Mac Software

Instapaper’s Marco Arment recently blogged that “The Mac App Store isn’t for today’s Mac developers.”

His post makes a good point: Most of the various concerns that are being discussed by current Mac developers miss the bigger picture. Future Mac OS X developers are going to be more likely to gravitate toward the platform because of the Mac App Store.

Unlike Ryan Block, I have no doubt that if the Mac App Store was only filled with existing Mac developers’ wares, it would have more than enough content to be a booming success. I say this as someone who absolutely loves Mac software and is always on the lookout for the next cool thing.

The myth that “there is no good software on the Mac” disappeared long ago. Thanks to Steam, even gaming — the blackhole of Mac software — has started to get some real traction. When it comes to tools, utilities, quirky projects and even big name hits, it’s hard to not find what you need on the Mac. If anything, the conversations I’m having have now changed from “Why isn’t this available on the Mac” to “Why isn’t this on Windows?”

The number of iOS developers dwarfs the number of traditional Mac developers. While standard Cocoa has a lot more intricacies and can dive much deeper into hardware and file systems than what is allowed by Cocoa Touch, if you know Objective-C, you know Objective-C. The Mac App Store is going to bring a lot of new developers to the platform — and yes, we expect it will mean that smaller and more bite-sized programs will be created.

That said, the Mac App Store isn’t without its faults. Until Apple is ready to open up about how cross-app sales will work, how exclusive titles will be in the Mac App Store and how upgrades, emergency updates and volume licensing will work, developers are going to have one hand in the Mac App Store and the other maintaining their own shops. That’s not economically sound for anyone.

Still, as a Mac user and Mac software lover, I look forward to seeing what this means for the platform and what it will mean for the smaller developers who make great apps that never get the attention they might otherwise deserve.

[via mashable]