Apple revolutionized online application purchases with the iTunes App Store for iPhone. The Mac App Store is similar. Apps for the Mac. One location. Easy purchase and downloads. Easy updates. And, generally speaking, lower prices for Mac apps.
Let The Disappointment Begin
Apple has become famous for launching simple apps and adding complexity over time. That’s the Mac App Store. What I’m waiting for are upgrades, better sorting, qualified user reviews.
First, upgrades. If you buy an app on the Mac App Store, upgrades are mostly automatic. But there are two problems. One has to do with update delays. Non Mac App Store versions of the same app may hit the streets weeks before the MAS version. Another has to do with original purchases. If you bought the app from the developer, it looks as if you’re locked into using the developer forever for upgrades. Or, you have to buy the app again from MAS.
Second, no trial apps. No try-before-you-buy. Smart developers get around that MAS limitation with free lite versions, or even provide a trial version from their web site. But that’s cumbersome when it could be built into MAS.
Third, sorting. I want to be able to sort all the graphic and design apps by more than just release date or name. How about most popular and release date (to ensure you’re getting apps that are updated frequently)?
Finally, the reviews themselves are subject to no user qualification, other than having bought or downloaded the app. Users with thorough reviews and a reputation should have some kind of star attached to their review, so a prospective buyer has someone to trust. The words app sucks and a single star is not a review.
I both like and use the Mac App Store, but as with many apps in the first few versions from Apple, it needs some seasoning.
These are all valid points. I hope Apple is paying attention.
I use the Mac app store and I like it but it’s not exactly user friendly in the typical Apple fashion. Why can’t I sort by popularity? If an app gets a few hundred reviews (over and beyond the developer’s friends and family) those stars are usually an accurate representation of whether the app is worthy or not.
MAS is an odd duck right now. It’s not as polished as the iPhone app store, but it’s useful. Some of the policies are goofy. Apple could just as easily tell developers to create a trial app or a free lite app, but they don’t. They’re happy with suckers who will buy before they try, but that causes a measure of unhappiness and growing indifference with the store and the policies.
I buy from time to time, but I wait for an app to get some good reviews first.
Couldn’t agree more with each of your points. I have found that the app Appalicious is helpful with some of the search and sort issues, but of course cannot help with updates and trial versions, which are probably my biggest peeve. But then again, why should I have to pay a subscription fee in order to get information Apple should provide to begin with?
I will not repurchase at full price a program just for its update. I would imagine that developers and Apple may be happy about that process, but customers certainly are not. Apple needs to get the issue fixed sooner rather than later.
Shut up
Way to go, Mark. That’s telling ‘em what you really think. You got one cogent argument going there. Where do you learn to think like that? Kindergarten? The playground? Or, while locked up in a closet for not using complete sentences?
Love the Mac App Store, folks. Well done, but, as has been said, it’s in need of more refinement, better search tools, and more qualified reviews. Just as ‘shut up’ is a stupid comment from Mark Strait, so is ‘This sucks’ as a review for an app.