The app store is a double edged sword, for sure. But for all the complaining about the grueling approval process, I don't think anyone would be in a hurry to abandon the store if Apple opened the iPhone up for alternatives.
The 30% fee is quite reasonable. It covers all of the variable costs such as transaction fees, bandwidth, etc. Not to mention the fixed costs of developing a store. It greatly lowers the barrier to entry for selling software.
The top 10 lists, the featured apps, and all the other perks of a central location have created significant wealth for a number of lucky developers. Otherwise, those developers would have had to make a significant marketing investment (in terms of either money, or sheer effort, or both).
Sating that "they can't" is completely unimaginative. If Apple released an App Store for OSX, developers would flock to it. Many would keep on selling software the way they have been doing it through the web, or through brick and mortar locations, but the ecosystem would flourish. Anything that increases the value of the OSX ecosystem, sells more Macs.
Apple would be crazy not to do this. Microsoft would have done it long ago if the EU would let them...
Maybe next year. There's too much anger among developers about the App Store bullshit — not the store itself, but the stupid hoops Apple has made developers jump through to get listed there. (See Gruber's recent http://daringfireball.net/2009/05/diary_of_an_app_store_revi... for a taste of the development community's feelings about the App Store.)
My take: If they want to build an App Store for Mac, this year's WWDC keynote will include a quick reference to something like 'streamlining' or 'expediting' the process — just enough to let people know they're aware of the problem and have some interest in fixing it. And then if they do fix it, they can announce the Mac App Store at next year's WWDC to rousing cheers.
But people have to realize that the mobile App Store really is for a phone. There's no reason to put the same hoops on apps on a platform that has absolutely no concern for branding, battery life, network usage, etc.
The app store is a double edged sword, for sure. But for all the complaining about the grueling approval process, I don't think anyone would be in a hurry to abandon the store if Apple opened the iPhone up for alternatives.
The 30% fee is quite reasonable. It covers all of the variable costs such as transaction fees, bandwidth, etc. Not to mention the fixed costs of developing a store. It greatly lowers the barrier to entry for selling software.
The top 10 lists, the featured apps, and all the other perks of a central location have created significant wealth for a number of lucky developers. Otherwise, those developers would have had to make a significant marketing investment (in terms of either money, or sheer effort, or both).
Sating that "they can't" is completely unimaginative. If Apple released an App Store for OSX, developers would flock to it. Many would keep on selling software the way they have been doing it through the web, or through brick and mortar locations, but the ecosystem would flourish. Anything that increases the value of the OSX ecosystem, sells more Macs.
Apple would be crazy not to do this. Microsoft would have done it long ago if the EU would let them...
So place your bets :-)