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A Tale Of Two Mac App Stores

In our previous Mac App Store coverage we focused on how, among other things, it will be very likely that Apple won’t allow the release of “trials” and “demos” in the new Store for Mac. As Mac developers also noticed and wrote in blog posts, it’s unknown at this point whether Apple will introduce new rules for volume licensing, educational discounts and other purchase systems Mac developers have been using for years on their websites.

The fears and doubts of Mac developers are worth our consideration as Apple has a huge deal on its hands, and nobody wants to see Apple “screw up” with an App Store on the Mac. So let’s just consider this: what if Apple doesn’t change the rules and understands that the Mac is ultimately different from iOS when it comes to customer experience? What if the first version of the Mac App Store that will roll out in January will be a simple “copy” of the one seen on iOS? In that case, there’s a chance for developers’ websites to stay in the game and become the real alternative to the Mac App Store, and not a “system from the past” headed to disappear. Read more

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Apple Confirms Macs Won’t Come with Flash Pre-Installed In The Future

So, about the new MacBook Airs shipping without Flash pre-installed: Apple PR just confirmed to Engadget that the same will happen with other Macs in the future, in order to allow customers to go download the most recent version of Flash on Adobe’s website on their own.

We’re happy to continue to support Flash on the Mac, and the best way for users to always have the most up to date and secure version is to download it directly from Adobe.

Simple answer. Of course Apple cares about its customers and computers running software up to date, but there’s clearly more than ” the best way for users” in this story. By keeping Macs Flash-free out of the box, Apple wants users to lack the need of installing Flash, as the web is slowly moving to a broader HTML5 adoption.

Perhaps this won’t happen in a matter of a few months, but that’s a first step.

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MacStories’ Weekly Game: Circuloid

[We thought it was about time to start our own feature of games worth a mention on MacStories. Even though MS is not exactly a game-focused publication, some games for iOS are just too good and addictive to not cover them. So there you have it, MacStories’ Weekly Game.]

Circuloid is a recently-released game for iPad by Polish developers Macoscope (the same guys who developed the Nozbe apps) which sports great graphics, interesting control methods, lots of levels and a great old-style difficulty. Circuloid is a classic Arkanoid / brick-breaker style game where you have to well, destroy bricks on screen. What impressed me, though, and convinced me to feature the app on MS is the extreme attention to the iPad’ unique features the developers put into this game. Read more

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Should Apple Allow Installation of iOS Apps From Other Sources?

The Mac App Store won’t be the only way to install apps on a Mac. As Steve Jobs confirmed at the “Back to the Mac” event, the Mac App Store will be the best way to discover and install apps, but not the only one. You’ll still be able to purchase apps directly from developers’ websites and run installers or .DMG files just fine. Can you imagine what could ever happen if Apple turned the Mac into an App Store-only “closed” system with no possibility to download software from other sources? After 20 years of regular installations?

So in a matter of a few months you’ll be able to install apps on your Mac in two different ways, and one of them will likely take over the other one in a very short period of time. If Apple understands the natural differences of the Mac from iOS and consequently adjusts the Review Guidelines in a way that developers won’t be forced to water down their apps, the Mac App Store will be huge. Both for users and devs.

Should Apple do the same on iOS? Read more

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Secret Feature: iLife ‘11 Still 32-Bit

You would expect the shiny new iLife suite to be running at full 64-bit smoothness, wouldn’t you? Not so fast, literally. GearLive reports the bad news:

So we figured that one unannounced “feature” would likely be that the iLife suite had been converted to 64 bit. After all, Snow Leopard has had more than enough time to mature out in the wild, and it seems that developers left and right have jumped onto the 64 bit bandwagon. That’s why we were sorely disappointed when we launched Activity Monitor and found that, unlike just about every other process and application we are running on the Mac Pro, the iLife apps are still labeled as “Intel” rather than “Intel 64 bit.”

Many speculated iLife ‘11 would be 64-bit compatible, but it appears that the engineering team didn’t have time to rewrite the codebase. Here’s to hoping for an update, or - worse - 64-bit coming in iLife ‘13. [via MacRumors]

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Club MacStories+: Everything that Club MacStories offers, plus an active Discord community, advanced search and custom RSS features for exploring the Club’s entire back catalog, bonus columns, and dozens of app discounts;

Club Premier: All of the above and AppStories+, an extended version of our flagship podcast that’s delivered early, ad-free, and in high-bitrate audio.

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32% Of iPad Owners Have Never Downloaded An App

The App Store is famous because of its simplicity and one-click downloads, right? I mean, that’s the reason Steve Jobs is even bringing it to the Mac. Well it turns out that according to a survey by nielsenwire, 32% of iPad owners have never downloaded an iPad app, and 5% have downloaded only free apps.

You can see the numbers in the pie chart below. 63% of iPad owners have bought apps in the store, with Games obviously taking a huge 62% of the charts.

I believe nielsenwire is a reliable source, but I really can’t see why would anyone want to keep a device apps-free. Maybe it’s the iTunes account creation process? Read more

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Club MacStories+: Everything that Club MacStories offers, plus an active Discord community, advanced search and custom RSS features for exploring the Club’s entire back catalog, bonus columns, and dozens of app discounts;

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Is Apple’s Lion a Lion?

Yesterday Apple gave us a sneak peek at some features coming in the next major iteration of OS X, Lion. For those who missed it, Lion will be available starting next summer, and more previews will likely be shown in January (when the Mac App Store will open), at the WWDC ‘11 or, perhaps, at another Lion-focused event. We don’t know yet.

Yesterday’s preview, however, was built around a simple concept: Apple brought OS X to the iPhone and iPad and created a new mobile operating system called iOS from it; now the best features experimented on those devices are coming back to where it all started, the Mac. Read more

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Award Winning iOS Game Flight Control HD Coming to the Mac App Store

And so iOS developers are beginning to port their apps to the Mac App Store. A few hours after the official announcement by Steve Jobs at the “Back to the Mac” event, Australian game studio Firemint (winners of two Apple Design Awards this year) has already confirmed that they’ll be bringing its blockbuster game Flight Control HD to the Mac. Read more

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Thoughts and Questions On The Mac App Store

Many of us thought Apple would never announce an App Store for Mac. When we discussed the subject, the most frequent reaction I heard from developers was:

“They can’t force users to go through an App Store on computers”

That is going to change. Like it or not, Apple wants to make the process of finding and installing software on the Mac easier, faster and integrated, and by bringing the system created on the iPhone and refined on the iPad back to the Mac, they’re going to literally reinvent the wheel. Read more

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Club MacStories: Weekly and monthly newsletters via email and the web that are brimming with apps, tips, automation workflows, longform writing, early access to the MacStories Unwind podcast, periodic giveaways, and more;

Club MacStories+: Everything that Club MacStories offers, plus an active Discord community, advanced search and custom RSS features for exploring the Club’s entire back catalog, bonus columns, and dozens of app discounts;

Club Premier: All of the above and AppStories+, an extended version of our flagship podcast that’s delivered early, ad-free, and in high-bitrate audio.

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