The new Mac AppStore will be launched by Apple in just 2 days, but many applications have already been approved and are waiting for the first customers. The developers of applications for the Mac AppStore were put in the situation of partially redoing their applications because porting to the new AppStore involves reconfiguring the applications so that they work with the peripherals of a Mac but also redoing the graphics. A developer worked on average about 4 weeks to prepare his application for the Mac AppStore, but this estimate takes into account the fact that the developer did not start the work from scratch but only modified certain elements of the application, those necessary for porting.
Considering the amount of work, you would think that these applications will be more expensive than those for iOS, right? Well no. Application developers are thinking of keeping the prices in the iOS AppStore or increasing it slightly, enough to not scare away their customers with Macs. In the table above we have 4 applications, the prices from the iOS and Mac AppStore, but we also have a sales estimate, an estimate made by the developers. Notice that 2 of the companies estimated that they will sell 10% of the number of applications sold in the iOS AppStore, while others have slightly higher expectations.
Why does a 1:1 adoption of the price on the Mac seem so natural for iOS devs?
For once, Apple made the code reuse for a native Mac app very straightforward. Every dev I talked to mentioned porting times of less than four weeks. Which were mostly spent on all types of adjustments, like keyboard and HD support. Also, graphical assets for mobile games are typically originated at a much higher resolution anyway, as everyone in the iOS world needs to prepare for a foreseeable future of HD displays. The point is, if you already have the assets and re-creating a native Mac app is relatively low-cost, there is no immediate pressure to go with another pricing model on this platform, if the reward could be an early (chart) success .
I'm 100% sure that this Mac AppStore will be a huge success, like almost all the company's "big" products. Everything will start moderately with a few thousand applications, but in a year it will reach several tens of thousands, but the biggest problem will be their usefulness.
So, how many of you are waiting for the new Mac AppStore?
