[OT] Mac App Store

[Sarah Reichelt]

>>>> Is there anyone here with apps in the current iOS App Store who can
>>>> answer that?
>>>
>>> As far as I can tell, no, they only offer tools/Web pages that display
>>> statistical data of your sales.
>>
>> How would it be possible for a developer to know if someone who calls is
>> actually eligible for technical support?
>
> I am quite a novice in the whole iApp arena, but barring any methods of
> cracking I haven't heard about yet, apps are more or less tied to a device
> -- you cannot arbitrarily move apps from one device to another, and you
> cannot distribute apps outside the app store (aside from testing and limited
> distribution apps).  So "presumably", the someone wanting help legitimately
> obtained your app.

Not quite true Scott.

App purchases are tied to an Apple ID which may have more than one device.
I have apps on both my iPhone & iPad and I have only bought them once.
If I buy on my iPhone, then try to buy again on my iPad, I get a
message saying "You have already bought this app. Click here to
download it again for free." (or something like that).
So while the developer can be sure I bought the app, I can still use
it on more than on device.

With regards to the Mac App Store, I am a dedicated Mac person, but my
kids use PCs for playing games.
And where do my kids get their games? From Valve, via their Steam app store :-)
This allows online purchases, updates are automatic, downloads are
guaranteed virus-free. It's great.

Of course there are other games developers out there who are not part
of the Steam network, but as consumers, my children prefer the Steam
store. They don't have to persuade me to drive to the local store,
which most likely won't have the latest game. They get new releases at
the same time as the rest of the world (not usual here in Australia),
and the apps are much cheaper than they would be at the store.

Most of my development is in-house stuff or contract work, neither of
which would be suited to the App Store, but I release the occasional
bit of shareware. As I am not interested in spending my time on
elaborate protection schemes, I just rely on the small percentage of
users who will actually pay, but with the Mac App store, even if I
reduced the prices dramatically, I would still expect to make more.

Someone mentioned that the iOS App Store was not displaying the
expected increase in price from iPhone to iPad apps. My searches seem
to indicate that the average iPhone app costs $0.99 while the average
iPad app costs $4.99 i.e. 5 times the price. I would not be surprised
if Mac software followed the same curve and went for about $25.

The other iOS phenomenon I would expect to see on the Mac, is greater
numbers of small, cheap, single-use apps. LiveCode is ideally suited
to this market, provided we can get the native controls etc, that the
App store will require.

Finally (sorry for this rambling reply), I thing RunRev would be doing
themselves a great disservice if they did not make sure the LiveCode
itself was available through the Mac App Store. And with the new
single bundle installation, I think they have taken a big step towards
making that possible.

Cheers,
Sarah