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Looks like Apple’s bumped up App Store prices ever so slightly in selected international stores (presumably as part of the iTunes Connect maintenance today). Previously, $0.99 apps were £0.59 - now they’re £0.69 - and £1.19 apps are now £1.49.
Tip of the hat to MacStories for reading the tea leaves rather well.
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➶ Apple’s Subs Rules Would Suck $1 Million From Financial Times
PaidContent’s coverage of the Apple subscription fallout has been excellent - this piece included.
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➶ Apple Enables App Store Subscriptions
Subscriptions are a great addition - the ease of sign-up (and reassurance of easily cancellation) will likely make this a winner with customers. However it’s not plain-sailing:
Publishers who use Apple’s subscription service in their app can also leverage other methods for acquiring digital subscribers outside of the app. For example, publishers can sell digital subscriptions on their web sites, or can choose to provide free access to existing subscribers. … However, Apple does require that if a publisher chooses to sell a digital subscription separately outside of the app, that same subscription offer must be made available, at the same price or less, to customers who wish to subscribe from within the app. In addition, publishers may no longer provide links in their apps (to a web site, for example) which allow the customer to purchase content or subscriptions outside of the app.
There’s pushing a line for the sake of the user-experience, and there’s pushing a line because you simply want a pound of flesh.
Don’t get me wrong: I’d choose sign-up via In-App Purchase any day versus side-loading and signing up via Safari, but this is a scary move on Apple’s part. Especially if you’re a company in this policy’s crosshairs.
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Reeder for iPad
Whilst I’m yet to actually pick up an iPad, I’m thrilled to see my very favourite iPhone RSS reader, Reeder, is now available for iPad. It looks every bit as stylish as the iPhone original - and available on the App Store for $4.99.
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Apple launches iTunes Connect Mobile
If you’re an iPhone developer, you’ve probably been using AppViz, AppFigures or AppSales Mobile to download an process your iTunes sales reports. Today, however, Apple have released a new app of their own: iTunes Connect Mobile (iTunes Store Link)..
Complete with graphs and more, it’s a free app - and a big step forward in the usability of iTunes Connect, a tool built for the labels and annoying to independent developers. There’s still plenty I dislike about iTunes Connect, but this is a step in the right direction.
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![Holy crap. iTunes Connect got a feature upgrade, albeit at the expense of Crash Reports. In true iTunes Connect form, however, it only shows reviews for the current version of your app [annoying if you’ve just pushed out an update and the only reviews are for previous versions], and worst of all there’s no at-a-glance listing of all your reviews from across the world: you have to select a territory whose reviews you want to view.
That said, it’s a good step forward - even if there is no way to actually follow-up or respond to reviews.](http://24.media.tumblr.com/tumblr_l0bb5vgwVs1qz4skao1_500.png)
Holy crap. iTunes Connect got a feature upgrade, albeit at the expense of Crash Reports. In true iTunes Connect form, however, it only shows reviews for the current version of your app [annoying if you’ve just pushed out an update and the only reviews are for previous versions], and worst of all there’s no at-a-glance listing of all your reviews from across the world: you have to select a territory whose reviews you want to view.
That said, it’s a good step forward - even if there is no way to actually follow-up or respond to reviews.
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On this Mac App Store Hysteria
Late last week, 9to5Mac - along with a number of other sites - reported the changes to Apple’s Mac Developer programme with “Mac Developer license falls to $99/year, Mac App Store coming?”. If you’ve read the piece, you may well agree there’s some logical failings, and whilst I try to not question the logic in too many articles for fear of sounding like a complete jackass, the more I read the 9to5Mac article, the more I found myself laughing at it. So here goes some clarification.
A $99 Mac Developer license means the barrier to Mac development is lowered for all of those thousands of developers who’ve had different measures of success on the iPhone.
No. The barrier to entry has always been precisely zero dollars. The tools to develop for the Mac - along with the API documentation for the currently-shipping version of OS X - have always been free of charge. You paid for a membership to receive advance pre-release builds of Mac OS X, a hardware discount, and maybe a ticket to WWDC - not for access to the Xcode IDE or currently-shipping APIs in Mac OS X.
Those developers, who can now port their apps to the Mac platform as widgets or full fledged Mac applications, need a means of distribution as well. … These people don’t have a way to distribute apps or a marketing budget or finance department.
I guess this tiny insignificant thing called the Internet doesn’t count? I mean, it’s not as though companies (like my own employer, or many other esteemed indie shops) have been selling, marketing or financing their applications for the past half-decade or more.
Yes: the Internet lacks the placebo sugar-coating of the App Store and the hands-tied approach to sales reporting that’s known as iTunes Connect, but there are tonnes of ways for folks to build, sell and market their apps via the Internet. Let’s also not forget that the App Store itself is not a marketing vehicle - it’s a listing system and that still requires the developer to proactively market their application.
Call me stupid, but doesn’t this sound much like the Internet to you?
I’m not going to labour this point too much - but I will add some sensible remarks on the new Mac Developer Program. Yes: the iPhone program quite likely influenced thinking on the programme pricing. Yes: it’s a play to encourage iPhone developers to bring their wares to the Mac. And, you know what, yes: it’s lowering the barrier of entry to develop - with pre-release builds of OS X. But to suggest that the drop in price is in somehow related to a Mac App Store - just because the iPhone programme includes an App Store - and base an entire article on such conjecture is missing the bigger picture, and completely downplays why the price change is actually important.
With that out the way, I’ll answer a slightly bigger question: will a Mac App Store ever see the light of day? I’m going with “No”. If Apple were building the Mac today, it’d without a doubt have an App Store. But that’s a little ironic too - because it sounds surprisingly like another certain device, whose mass-market consumer appeal I’ve written about before.
Disclaimer: The views expressed in this article in no way represent the opinions of my employer.
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An organization that wins by exercising power starts to lose the ability to win by doing better work.
Apple’s Mistake, via Gruber -
➶ App Store Resource Center
The App Store Resource Center is designed to make it easier for you to find details on everything you need to know about distributing your app on the App Store — from how to prepare for app submission to managing your app once it’s been posted.
A welcome addition from Cupertino, though looking through the content it’s lacking substance. To quote Justin Williams:
App Store Resource Center: a finely dressed shit sandwich.
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➶ Apple bans App Store’s 3rd-most prolific developer
Submitter of nine hundred apps, many with dubious copyright issues surrounding them, it’s good to see that Apple’s App Store team are on the ball enough to prevent copyright infringement before an app goes on sale.
Ahem.
All snark aside, I guess it’s another positive baby-step from Cupertino….
© Nik Fletcher 2007-2011 ~ Contact
