5 Criticisms of Mac App Store (and Why They're Wrong)
The Mac App Store has the potential to breathe new life into the Mac platform. With Mac marketshare rising and there being a growing number of developers with skill in Objective-C from the iOS side of things, the time is definitely right for a centralized, and familiar-looking app delivery model for the Mac. However, since Apple released the Mac App Store guidelines similar to those for iOS, there has been a fair bit of criticism going around. Here are some of the criticisms I've seen and why they're wrong (or at the very least probably shortsighted).
Thu, October 21, 2010
PC World — The Mac App Store has the potential to breathe new life into the Mac platform. With Mac marketshare rising and there being a growing number of developers with skill in Objective-C from the iOS side of things, the time is definitely right for a centralized, and familiar-looking app delivery model for the Mac. However, since Apple (AAPL) released the Mac App Store guidelines similar to those for iOS, there has been a fair bit of criticism going around. Here are some of the criticisms I've seen and why they're wrong (or at the very least probably shortsighted).
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1) The 70/30 Split
The Mac App Store borrows a familiar pricing scheme from the App Store for iOS, giving developers a 70% cut of app sales. On an iOS device, where there is no alternative to the App Store for downloading apps (beyond jailbreaking your device), the 70/30 split has been widely accepted as being fair to developers. On Mac, however, developers have always been free to sell their applications directly to consumers and not have to share their sales revenue with Apple. Why would a developer want to start giving up 30% of their sales?
The App Store will give apps a much higher visibility, presumably boosting sales. Additionally, the terms of the Mac App Store do not, thankfully, disallow developers from selling their apps elsewhere (from their own website, for example). Additionally, there is nothing in the agreement that states you can't sell your app for a lower price elsewhere, so the 30% Apple tax could be potentially subsidized by a higher price on the App Store. Buy an app from the App Store for convenience, to always keep it up to date, or so you don't have to enter your credit card info over and over again at different sites. Or if you're a savvy consumer looking to get the best possible price you could always have the option to buy it straight from the developer.
2) What About Java?
The App Store review guidelines state "apps that use deprecated or optionally installed technologies will be rejected." This essentially outlaws Java apps from the App Store and locks developers into using Objective-C. This comes after the announcement that Apple will be discontinuing its custom ported Java packages for OS X after the current release.
Java apps on Mac are slower and bulkier than their native Objective-C counterparts. They require an additional installation and Apple wants to deliver a Mac App Store experience similar to its iOS brethren, in which stability, security, and UI consistency are highly valued by the review team. Basically, Apple wants to give users of the Mac App Store a certain confidence in quality; for its apps to be as "Mac-like" as possible which is more simply attained by using the native Objective-C. If a developer really wants to distribute their Java app on Mac however, there is still nothing stopping them- though with Apple's deprecation announcement the ball is really in Oracle's court now to keep Java on OS X alive.
