IPhone software sustainability and the death of Mac software
1–10 of 25 posts
Re: IPhone software sustainability and the death of Mac software
#2App Bodega (http://www.appbodega.com) is a somewhat successful Mac app store that I find useful for finding new apps and keeping track of app updates. It's also really well done in terms of UI / usability. It's a shame they failed to even mention it - they're not helping the situation.
Oh, and from what I understand Apple is working on a Mac app store. As someone getting ready to launch a Mac shareware app I found this quote especially hilarious:
"Mac software sales since the current distribution and sales methods are in place and well established."
Re: IPhone software sustainability and the death of Mac software
#3This reminds of the "Desktops are dead" articles that have been written for years. With the growth of people in the world using more and more computers everyday, there is plenty of room for new distribution channels, stores (Slate Store?), platforms and such. Even this developer who authored an article about the death of Mac software said they would continue writing and supporting it.
And it may also just be semantics, but since when is writing for the App store not Mac software?
Re: IPhone software sustainability and the death of Mac software
#4This is an incredibly one-sided view. Clearly if you're a Mac developer, you switch to iPhone development and you start receiving truckloads of cash, you're going to think Mac developers would be stupid not to do the same. However:
1. Most iPhone apps are not incredibly successful.
2. Taptaptap has the full weight of the MacHeist marketing machine behind it.
Even if a swathe of Mac developers did move to iPhone, it wouldn't be long before the majority moved back to the Mac when the iPhone Dream didn't materialise. Indeed, if Mac development was going to die, it would have done already.
Re: IPhone software sustainability and the death of Mac software
#5This is an incredibly one-sided view. Clearly if you're a Mac developer, you switch to iPhone development and you start receiving truckloads of cash, you're going to think Mac developers would be stupid not to do the same. However: 1. Most iPhone apps are not incredibly successful. 2. Taptaptap has the full weight of the MacHeist marketing machine behind it. Even if a swathe of Mac developers did move to iPhone, it w…
I think the point is that given a set of skills and resources (i.e. Cocoa & great design skills) it's way more profitable (5x in TapTapTap's case) to direct them towards iPhone development.
There are different opportunities on the two platforms, but the difference in profitability will absolutely draw some people away from Mac development: it's drawing people away from everything — I know at least 5 ex-Java or .Net guys doing iPhone development full time now.
> it wouldn't be long before the majority moved back to the Mac when the iPhone Dream didn't materialise.
It might be less competitive, but it's not like Mac development is a sure bet that you can just fall back on.
Re: IPhone software sustainability and the death of Mac software
#6Apple would have complete control over the software they wanted to offer on a theoretical Mac App Store. Not so different from the retail boxed software they sell at Apple Stores. I don't think it's on the top of their priority list but I bet it happens eventually. If you look at Steam on Windows you see there is a proven model for success with desktop app stores.
Re: IPhone software sustainability and the death of Mac software
#7Couldn't it work in reverse? There must be people who learned Cocoa/Objective-C only to get on the iPhone bandwagon, and are therefore closer to Mac software development than they would ever have been without the iPhone.
The article doesn't seem to think that a Mac app store would work, but I know I'd like one (speaking both as a maker and user of Mac software). I know I'd buy more, too; it would be easier to know what's actually available, and I'd discover apps for unexpected things.
Re: IPhone software sustainability and the death of Mac software
#8This is an incredibly one-sided view. Clearly if you're a Mac developer, you switch to iPhone development and you start receiving truckloads of cash, you're going to think Mac developers would be stupid not to do the same. However: 1. Most iPhone apps are not incredibly successful. 2. Taptaptap has the full weight of the MacHeist marketing machine behind it. Even if a swathe of Mac developers did move to iPhone, it w…
Top 300 apps make $700-$1000/day, so what they're seeing isn't at all outside the norm for folks with reasonably popular apps. #1 Books = #260 overall, as a reference point.
Re: IPhone software sustainability and the death of Mac software
#9This is an incredibly one-sided view. Clearly if you're a Mac developer, you switch to iPhone development and you start receiving truckloads of cash, you're going to think Mac developers would be stupid not to do the same. However: 1. Most iPhone apps are not incredibly successful. 2. Taptaptap has the full weight of the MacHeist marketing machine behind it. Even if a swathe of Mac developers did move to iPhone, it w…
neither of your points matters if you believe his assertion that (roughly) the 1000th most popular iPhone app generates 5x the revenue of the 100th most popular Mac shareware app.
Re: IPhone software sustainability and the death of Mac software
#10This is an incredibly one-sided view. Clearly if you're a Mac developer, you switch to iPhone development and you start receiving truckloads of cash, you're going to think Mac developers would be stupid not to do the same. However: 1. Most iPhone apps are not incredibly successful. 2. Taptaptap has the full weight of the MacHeist marketing machine behind it. Even if a swathe of Mac developers did move to iPhone, it w…
neither of your points matters if you believe his assertion that (roughly) the 1000th most popular iPhone app generates 5x the revenue of the 100th most popular Mac shareware app.
Not entirely a fair comparison. It's comparing shareware apps to the entire iPhone market. I'd venture to guess that nobody would call anything put out by Microsoft, Adobe, EA, or hundreds of other companies shareware, but those same companies are all in the same iPhone market.