Justin Williams’ Mac App Store Blueprint

Assuming both applications are accepted, both Today and Check Off will be in the App Store on day 1 as the exclusive distribution channel. At that point in time, I will shut down the existing Second Gear store and channel any sales traffic from my Web site to the Mac App Store.

Risky? Yeah. Insane? Maybe.

As with anything involving Apple’s App Store platforms, pricing is an issue. At this point, I’m not planning to adjust my prices for the Mac App Store. I think this will be the trend for existing software moving to the App Store, because giving up a 30% cut to Apple for the privilege is enough of a sacrifice. Tacking on a price cut as well? I can’t see many full-time developers agreeing to that.

If you’ve selling a $40 piece of software on your own distribution platform for years, moving it to a new platform doesn’t make it any less worth of $40.

A 30% cut seems to be perfectly fine for many developers as long as Apple provides the tools and the system to ensure that the only requirement for a dev is that of doing what he likes most: developing. Notable independent Mac developers such as the Omni Group, Realmac, Pixelmator and, now, Secondgear have already committed to Mac App Store development. I can see where this trend is going. We’ll check again in a couple of months.