Well, well. Look what we have here. We’ve been hearing rumors all week about the Mac App Store launching soon, we found out that the upcoming store won’t allow Mac developers to generate promo codes and won’t feature in-app purchases and Game Center integration, Apple clarified its position on demos and trials.
Now Jay Freeman, a.k.a. Saurik, creator of popular alternative store Cydia for jailbroken devices, told the attendees of 360|MacDev that Cydia is coming to the Mac. Read more
Founded in 2015, Club MacStories has delivered exclusive content every week for nearly a decade.
What started with weekly and monthly email newsletters has blossomed into a family of memberships designed for every MacStories fan.
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.
Looks like the Mac App Store is going to be quite different from the iOS model we’ve gotten used to in these past two years. Yesterday we broke the news that developers won’t be able to generate promo codes for Mac apps sold though the new Store (even if they’ve gone international for all users), today 9to5mac reports that in-app purchases and Game Center won’t find their way to Jobs’ latest reinvention of the Mac software environment, either.
Mark Gurman notes:
Apple has informed App Store developers that two major iOS app store features will not make their way ‘back to the mac.’
Note: In app purchases are not available for Mac OS X apps.
Note: Game Center is not available for Mac OS X apps.
As we wrote yesterday, Apple is clearly aiming at a simple purchase experience similar to the iOS App Store, but with less features than the mobile counterpart. Perhaps they don’t want Mac users to feel overwhelmed with new functionalities such as in-app purchases? Maybe they didn’t have time to implement them by the 2011 opening?
Still, we think Game Center on the desktop would be great. And terrible for our productivity.
Founded in 2015, Club MacStories has delivered exclusive content every week for nearly a decade.
What started with weekly and monthly email newsletters has blossomed into a family of memberships designed for every MacStories fan.
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.
At the Back to the Mac event in October, Steve Jobs said the Mac App Store would open in 90 days – thus giving it a January 2011 release date. According to rumors surfaced a few days ago, though, it seemed like there was the possibility of an early launch next week.
Well, Jim Darlymple over at The Loop reports:
Please note that Darlymple’s sources are usually spot-on and correct. Those rumors never really made sense to me either, considering Apple didn’t notify developers about an early launch.
So there you have it: the Mac App Store is indeed coming in January.
The good news today is that promo codes for iOS apps are no longer limited to the U.S. App Store, but it looks like the upcoming Mac App Store (set to launch in January 2011, even though someone says it may open as early as next week) will be based on a different system. In fact, it appears that developers won’t have the possibility to generate promo codes for Mac apps sold through the Mac App Store.
In the iTunes Connect Developer Guide (version 6.2, last updated on November 1, 2010 - PDF) Apple mentions that promo codes are exclusive to iOS and won’t be available for Mac apps:
Promo Codes button (for iOS apps only). See the Requesting Promo Codes section to learn about promotional codes)
Promotional codes are not available for Mac OS X apps.
Founded in 2015, Club MacStories has delivered exclusive content every week for nearly a decade.
What started with weekly and monthly email newsletters has blossomed into a family of memberships designed for every MacStories fan.
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.
Three weeks ago we reported Apple updated its Mac App Store submission FAQ for developers to inform developers that it was possible to submit apps with identical names to the iPhone, iPad and Mac App Store. Today they’re making it official by posting the news on the Developer News website:
You can now submit a Mac OS X version of your app to the Mac App Store with the identical name as your iOS app on the App Store. Having the same name for your app on both the App Store and Mac App Store allows you to maintain the consistency of your brand and makes your app easily recognizable to customers.
Earlier today Apple also posted a series of tips regarding in-app purchases and app metadata. Apple reminds developers that “there is certain metadata which cannot be edited, such as keywords and the name of your app” and suggests in-app purchases should come with accurate screenshots and predictions.
According to a rumor surfaced yesterday, Apple may be a targeting an early Mac App Store opening for next week. We haven’t been able to verify this rumor with the developers we contacted, though, as no one apparently got notified from Apple about the change of schedule.
Founded in 2015, Club MacStories has delivered exclusive content every week for nearly a decade.
What started with weekly and monthly email newsletters has blossomed into a family of memberships designed for every MacStories fan.
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.
According to a rumor posted by Appletell, Apple may launch the Mac App Store as early as next week:
An inside source has just told us that Apple is targeting a Monday, December 13th launch of the Mac App Store. The company apparently told developers to have their software prepared for a launch as early as Monday the 6th of this month, but our contact would be shocked if that happened at this point. Apple has made no official announcements regarding this, and delays could always happen, but there’s a push to be launched before Christmas, well ahead of the previously estimated January release. Guess from where this push has come.
The website claims that Apple is ahead of its schedule for the new store opening, and Steve Jobs wanted a December 6th launch, but it didn’t happen. We didn’t hear anything from developers about a December 6th release, we just know that there’s a deadline for apps to be submitted that should end sometimes later this month.
At the Back to the Mac event on October 20th, Steve Jobs said the Mac App Store would launch in 90 days – which made us think of a late January 2011 opening. Last week, Apple seeded a new build of OS X 10.6.6 to developers to ensure Mac App Store compatibility and even clarified its position on the availability of trials and beta apps in the new Store.
[via MacRumors]
Founded in 2015, Club MacStories has delivered exclusive content every week for nearly a decade.
What started with weekly and monthly email newsletters has blossomed into a family of memberships designed for every MacStories fan.
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.
The big news this morning is that Apple clarified its position on demos and trials in the upcoming Mac App Store and confirmed what we thought would happen all along: developers can’t have demo versions of their apps in the Mac App Store. Only full-featured retail versions will be accepted. Clearly, Apple doesn’t want to offer limited-time or “half baked” apps in its new Store, and it’s forcing Mac developers to go the iOS way with either free or paid apps.
That is going to cause a few problems and headaches for many, many OS X developers. For years, they have been trained to release demo / trail versions of applications, with a paid version to purchase immediately or after the trial runs out. And indeed Apple suggests just that: keep hosting trial versions on your website, because you’ll be able to insert a link to it in the App Store description page of the app. Just as it’s possible now in the iPhone and iPad App Store. Read more
Founded in 2015, Club MacStories has delivered exclusive content every week for nearly a decade.
What started with weekly and monthly email newsletters has blossomed into a family of memberships designed for every MacStories fan.
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.
Following last night’s seeding of a new build of Mac OS X 10.6.6, Apple updated its Developer News portal with a few tips for developers to consider before trying to submit their Mac apps for approval. Among these tips (which include file system usage and custom graphical controls), Apple confirmed what many developers feared since the Mac App Store was announced: Apple won’t accept any kind of demo, trial or beta version in the new Store.
Apple is, in fact, suggesting developers to host demos on their own websites, as the Mac App Store only accepts retail versions of apps:
Your website is the best place to provide demos, trial versions, or betas of your software for customers to explore. The apps you submit to be reviewed for the Mac App Store should be fully functional, retail versions of your apps.
We don’t know yet if Apple will provide a way to better showcase links to developers’ website in the App Store description pages (right now, the iOS App Store features two links buried under an app’s description, right above screenshots) but sure this is bad news for many developers who were hoping Apple would announce the possibility to release demo versions in the Mac App Store.
The Mac App Store opening isn’t too far away now, so we’ll know more about the whole process in the upcoming weeks.
Founded in 2015, Club MacStories has delivered exclusive content every week for nearly a decade.
What started with weekly and monthly email newsletters has blossomed into a family of memberships designed for every MacStories fan.
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.
Two weeks ago we reported several developers were facing issues with Mac App Store submissions, as they weren’t able to register their app’s name in iTunes Connect. At that time it looked like “name squatters” were sitting on popular app names to force developers to pick different ones, but it turned out that a major issue was lying in Apple’s system itself.
Two weeks ago, in fact, developers who had already submitted an app to the iOS App Store with a certain name weren’t able to use that same name in the Mac App Store registering process. Imagine the frustration of developers who already had iPhone apps in the App Store and wanted to submit Mac counterparts to the upcoming store. Read more
Founded in 2015, Club MacStories has delivered exclusive content every week for nearly a decade.
What started with weekly and monthly email newsletters has blossomed into a family of memberships designed for every MacStories fan.
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.
