There won’t be a Mac App Store.

At TUAW, Mike Schramm muses over the idea of a Mac App store, akin to the App Store most iPhone users are tied to. The idea is that Apple could create a section in the iTunes store for OS X apps for desktop use, just as they have a section for iPhone software. While the idea is a nice one, it’s not about to happen.

Firstly, developers aren’t tied to iTunes as a distribution method. That means that while many developers might buy into a Mac App Store, many won’t. If an Apple-endorsed App Store via iTunes doesn’t include most available applications, then it’s not going to work out, especially when reviewers start making comments about software available outside the store. Furthermore, why would developers let Apple take a cut in software sales, when they’ve been selling their products fine via traditional means for years now?

Secondly, Apple won’t endorse the idea without being able to control what’s in it. They’ll want to approve the code for included applications just as they do for iPhone programs, but outside the restricted confines of the iPhone development world, no self-respecting developer is going to let Apple manage a program’s release date and gain access to proprietary code. iPhone developers have little choice over whether or not Apple has control of an iPhone application’s code, because the iTunes store makes up the vast majority of iPhone software, and is the only distribution medium that most iPhone owners use. However, as that’s not the case with OS X applications, developers will abandon ship the moment Apple looks to be heavy-handed.

Thirdly, the App Store’s primary selling force is impulse buys for casual software. That’s because the iPhone is a mobile platform where users, on-the-go, may suffer from bouts of waiting and other boredom as they go about their daily tasks. Metro travel, lunch lines, pre-meetings, and other periods throughout the day make the iPhone an ideal way to fill a few minutes of time here and there. The desktop is whole different story, because desktop software is usually geared toward longer periods of use, for power applications. With software generally priced well over $20, there’s much less impulse buying and far more consideration made before an application is purchased.

That said, while a Mac App Store won’t be a vehicle for generating the types of sales that the iPhone App Store is, it could still be a great distribution model. Rather than having it be Apple-endorsed, however, a more realistic approach would be to have a third-party developer, ideally one that’s pro-open-source, create a framework for distribution ala Valve’s Steam. Developers could decide to join the project to distribute their works, and the system would manage program updates/patches, as well as serve to promote brand new products. While such an App Store might be relegated to a stand-alone product, instead of being integrated in iTunes, a store of this nature, free of Apple tyranny, would likely still see plenty of users, so long as it’s not purely a distribution of gaming software.

Tagged as: apple, computers, internet, mendax.org, software