The Mac App Store is off to a great start, but it’s not all sweetness and light. Users have been confused by how some third party apps bought elsewhere show as “installed” in the store UI whilst others don’t — and in fairness, it is confusingly inconsistent. Meanwhile, developers are struggling to deal with the lack of upgrade pricing, and what that means for their existing customers.
As with the iOS App Store, everyone buying an app pays the same price, whether they are a new customer or someone who bought a previous version. There is also no ability to “grandfather in” licenses from elsewhere. For example, I purchased Pixelmator v1.6 from its website for $60 back in September, but the team has now announced that v2 will be exclusive to the Mac App Store.
If they had maintained the $60 price point, I would have had to pay the full amount again in order to move my license from their own system and onto the Mac App Store. Generously, they have dealt with this by offering Pixelmator v1.6 for $30 on the store for a limited time — with a free upgrade to v2 when it is released. This isn’t perfect; some people like me feel annoyed that they paid twice the current rate just a few months ago for a product that won’t get an upgrade to v2, and Pixelmator’s developers are also effectively giving new customers an upgrade discount they perhaps shouldn’t be entitled to. Overall, though, it’s the best of a bad set of choices they can make.
Not all devs are having such a smooth ride, however.
Continue reading CoverSutra kerfuffle highlights Mac App Store teething troubles
CoverSutra kerfuffle highlights Mac App Store teething troubles originally appeared on TUAW on Sat, 08 Jan 2011 11:15:00 EST. Please see our terms for use of feeds.
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