App Store for Mac? Why not?
There is no doubt that the killer app for the iPhone and iPod Touch is the iTunes App Store. Downloads have surpassed 100 million apps back in September, only a few months after the launch of the store. The success of the App Store has been a benefit for everyone involved, a symbiotic relationship of sorts that’s so desirable in business: developers make money selling applications while Apple takes a cut of sales revenue; developers focus on making awesome apps and let Apple take care of billing, distribution, and bandwidth. This much we know.
But the real beauty behind the app store is its simplicity and convenience: find an app you like, hit the install button, and the next moment the app is ready to use; it’s really that simple! Looking ahead, the time is right for the success of the app store to be translated to desktop computing: I believe that Apple will release a version of the App store for the Mac in the next year.
Apple has always been a company that, first and fore-most, focused on user experience and simplicity. If we travel outside the geek community, we will see that many Mac users don’t take advantage of the vast collection of third-party software that is available for their computers: they simply aren’t aware that such things exist, and if they do, where to find them. To make consumers more aware of the plethora of third-party applications available for the desktop, a unified location that serves as the home to all such programs needs to be created. Think of it as being a version of the iPhone App store that migrated to the desktop; it will work through iTunes the way the iPhone/iPod Touch store does.
In doing so, Apple will realize the same benefits it currently enjoys with today’s version of the App store. These include:
- Making it easier for the consumer to find and install desktop applications, thus improving user experience.
- Bringing the applications of third-party developers front and center to consumers who would otherwise not venture to explore the web and download/use/purchase such programs, resulting in
- Increased sales for developers. Apple can share-in on the profits by taking the same cut the company currently does on the mobile App Store.
- All this will allow developers to focus on making great desktop apps and not on how to host and distribute them. Let developers do that what they do best.
Of course, Apple still has some ways to go in perfecting the mobile app store. Matters like making the app screening process perfectly transparent for developers as well as allowing users to demo the applications before they make a purchase need to be resolved. In any case, these issues are in no way game-stoppers and should be overcome soon.
Join me in awaiting the App store for Mac OS X by voting at this poll.
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Posted in Apple, Business, Decisions, Mac, Marketing, Predictions, Software, iPhone
30. January 2009 at 11:14 am :
Excellent idea! I hope it goes further and integrates with Finder/Application Folder. One could then have all ones favorite apps appear when logging on to a new machine. Therefore, Application and Home folder portability.
The difficult thing though is how to showcase the really good/useful apps among the crowd of ordinary or even frivolous apps?!
30. January 2009 at 12:08 pm :
Thanks! That’s a great idea about it integrating with the Finder/Apps directory. I agree about the fact that it’s difficult to have the really good apps stand out in the crowd. I assume that the current way of doing it – top 20 apps in category x, top 20 apps in category y – is a given. But there needs to be more. And a way to trial an app before using it – something that the iPhone store doesn’t do.
I’ll be discussing this more on the TechNest Weekly Report podcast later today, so tune in and listen to it if you can. It comes out every Friday at 3pm EST.
30. January 2009 at 3:53 pm :
Bad idea.
First, Apple limits the complexity of applications for the iPhone. Personally, I don’t want that on my Mac. I want to be able to plug my T-Mobile G1 or Garmin GPS into my Mac and transfer data with an application. I don’t need someone at Apple deciding that I really should have an iPhone or that the application in question just doesn’t use pull-down menus “correctly” and nix the application.
Second, Apple already has two ways of finding Macintosh applications. The first one, built right into the Finder, is Apple’s download site. You can get to it by choosing “Mac OS X Software…” from the Apple menu. The other one, which is a little harder to find, is the Macintosh Products Guide, which is a place for developers to advertise their products. So I don’t see where integrating something into iTunes makes it any better.
Finally, in regards to your alleged advantages of this system:
“Making it easier for the consumer to find and install desktop applications, thus improving user experience.”
Apple already goes to great lengths to make it easy to install applications: Disk images (for simple applications) allow you to just drag the application to your applications folder. More complex applications can use Apple’s installer.
What have you found to be the difficult part of installing applications on a Macintosh?
“Bringing the applications of third-party developers front and center to consumers who would otherwise not venture to explore the web and download/use/purchase such programs, resulting in Increased sales for developers.”
Apple already does this with the two sites mentioned above.
“All this will allow developers to focus on making great desktop apps and not on how to host and distribute them. Let developers do that what they do best.”
There are plenty of companies that will do hosting for you. And because of this, you have competition which is generally a good thing–better features and lower prices.
For example, I sell a piece of software for $24.95. So for every sale, Apple makes $7.49 just for delivering, say, 6MB of data. So Apple is making $1.24 per megabyte downloaded. I’m pretty sure that I can find something cheaper, that will also set up a storefront for me for a 1-time charge (rather than taking it out of every sale). And, if I want to, I have choice of doing it all myself.
As a developer, why would I want to pay Apple just to download my app and list it in the store? Unless–like with the iPhone–I had no choice.
30. January 2009 at 7:28 pm :
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1. February 2009 at 4:21 pm :
Peter, great comment, thanks! I agree with all your points.
Here are some clarifications that I might not have made clear in the post:
1) I believe that a major reason the App Store on the iPhone/iPod Touch is so successful is because it is the only place to get applications. This troubles me because of two distinct yet related issues: 1) Apple controls everything and therefore plays sensor; 2) Apple can be seen in a monopolistic position and, well, we all know what can happen then (Microsoft and EU, for one).
2) Regarding my suggestion for a Mac App Store: I will quote you and myself here:
< <“Making it easier for the consumer to find and install desktop applications, thus improving user experience.”
Apple already goes to great lengths to make it easy to install applications: Disk images (for simple applications) allow you to just drag the application to your applications folder. More complex applications can use Apple’s installer.>>
-Agreed here. However, if we consider that the Mac market share is growing by leaps and bounds, we can see the following:
a) Some of the “switchers” are those who are not familiar with the Mac. They can’t seem to grasp the concept of installing from a disk image. It might be user-friendly and easy for us – experienced users, enthusiasts, and geeks – but for an average user, it’s not obvious to drag the app that appears in the disk image to the Applications directory. All too often, I’ve seen new users run apps right from the disk image, which is – obviously – not at all user friendly. Surely, this depends on how well the “drag to apps directory” step is documented in the disk image.
b) Moreover, other switchers are those who have used iTunes and loved the experience on the PC. They are used to iTunes and the way it works. From a marketing point of view, as well as from a “logical” point of view, it would only make sense for these people to be able to purchase apps for their Macs in the App Store.
2) Regarding your first point: I would, of course, expect Apple not to limit the types of apps that get into the Mac App store (if it ever comes). This is a problem that the company needs to fix even with the iPhone/iPod Touch store: make the terms of acceptance + guidelines perfectly clear. Then stick to them. As we go along in the grand scheme of things, I expect a method to install third party apps on the iPhone that does not go through iTunes. Why? See point #1 above.
3) Regarding your point about the two ways to find out about Mac apps + this quote: < <“Bringing the applications of third-party developers front and center to consumers who would otherwise not venture to explore the web and download/use/purchase such programs, resulting in Increased sales for developers.”
Apple already does this with the two sites mentioned above.>>
Even I didn’t know about guide.apple.com, how would an average/new user know about it? Moreover, see my point #1 above about ease of use. It it’s not easy to find, it’s not easy to use, thus defeating its whole purpose. It might be great once you know about it, but it’s useless if you don’t.
Therefore those two methods are great but don’t live up to their greatest potential. For some, it will be easier to just get all their apps as well as their music from one single place they are already very familiar with. I don’t want to sound here as if I think people are inherently stupid and can’t learn. This is not what I mean and don’t take it that way. But I see too many switchers ask me where they can get this app and that app. It would be great to just point them to iTunes. On top of that, you know what else a Mac App store would bring? No longer needing to write down/store serial numbers for apps. Apple’s got ya covered.
4) < <“All this will allow developers to focus on making great desktop apps and not on how to host and distribute them. Let developers do that what they do best.”
There are plenty of companies that will do hosting for you. And because of this, you have competition which is generally a good thing–better features and lower prices.>>
Agreed. I don’t really know what the effects would be of getting a Mac app onto iTunes. Your example that you brought up immediately after this makes sense. But what if we imagined it in this light:
Without the Mac App Store, developer x get 20,000 monthly hits on his site. He makes 400 sales a month out of those 20,000 hits. (just as an example).
On the Mac App store, his app is viewed (not taking up his bandwidth) 100,000 times a month. He makes 1500 sales. Apple takes a certain percentage.
Is this possible? I think it is. It makes life easier for the non-geeks. And guess who drive the industry, spending-wise? Non-geeks.
5) Lastly, I’m not saying that the Mac App store would be the only way to install apps onto the Mac. The existing method of downloading, dragging+dropping would still exist.
Again, I really want to thank you for your reply. It really made me think. All in all, this is all about discovery. Some things will work, others won’t. We’ll see what happens.
Alex
16. July 2010 at 12:44 pm :
The App Store concept is nothing new. It’s much like the RPM and DEB package managers, that most linux distributions have already used for ages. You select the Software you like, click on install and it’s ready to use.