果たして Mac App Store には売れるだけのものがあるのか？

Will the Mac App Store have enough to sell? | gdgt

〈Ryan Block の批判〉

The real issue with the desktop software market is that (unless you’re talking about productivity software) there just isn’t all that much consumers need to buy anymore. The boxed software business didn’t die because of app stores, it died because of an overabundance of great programs that are free, open, or otherwise subsidized that are available through other web or internet services. To put it another way: lately, how often have your parents bought software for their computer (that wasn’t Microsoft Office)?

The Mac App Store | bijansabet.com

The opposite is true on my iPhone. Even though I’m a preacher for the open web & html5, the reality is right now, I use a ton of iPhone apps and prefer many of them over their web counterparts (regardless the platform). I wish this wasn’t true but it is.

The Mac App Store | parislemon.com

Just as with Apple’s original App Store, the third-party developers, and what they come up with, are going to make or break this thing.

Ryan Block Wonders if the Mac App Store Will Have Enough to Sell | Daring Fireball

Filed away for future claim chowder.

Might The Mac App Store Lead To A New Class Of Micro-Apps? | TechCrunch

〈MG Siegler はマイクロアプリに注目〉

Here’s what I’m thinking: one of the most popular apps since the inception of the iPhone App Store has been Pandora. Pandora obviously works through the web browser, but plenty of people would be into a small app that sits somewhere on your desktop running in the background. How do I know? Because Pandora actually already makes such an app — but it runs on AIR and you need a Pandora One premium account to use it. What if Pandora made a free ad-supported Pandora Mac app? Or a paid version (maybe $5 or $10) that gives you premium features? A lot of people would want such an app.

But a real opportunity may exist in small apps that don’t just fully mimic popular web apps, but instead extend upon them. Imagine a Facebook app, for example, that offered a great photo upload and viewing experience? Again, this is sort of the idea Apple seemed to originally have with their Desktop Widgets, but those never really took off. One reason, undoubtedly, is that distribution was lacking, and developers had no way to make money from them. The Mac App Store solves both of those issues.

スペシャルイベントで発表の「Mac App Store」は世界を変える！？ | Macテクノロジー研究所

しかし今やiPhoneやiPadのアプリケーションはご承知のようにiTunesという基幹アプリケーションにより管理運用され、いつでも手軽にダウンロード購入できる時代になっている。したがってMacintosh用アプリケーションも理屈は同じことができるはずだし、仲介の流通企業が不用でパッケージも不用となればコスト的にも安価な提供ができる理屈だ。無論「Mac App Store」でどれほどのアプリケーションが揃うかは分からないが、これまでのApp Store同様に開発企業はもとより個人の開発者の意欲に大きな影響を与えるものと思われる。

反面、これまで海外のアプリケーションの販売代理権を取得したり、日本語のローカライズをした製品を販売してきた企業らはその存続が危ぶまれることになるだろう。それは言うまでもなく開発者側自らが「Mac App Store」にアップロードする方が告知も販売戦略もストレートでコントロールしやすいからだしユーザーの利便性も格段に良いからだ。

したがって機が熟せば例えばAdobeとかMicrosoftといった大手も「Mac App Store」で販売を開始するだろうし、ソフトウェアの流通のあり方が根本的に変わる時代になった。だから「Mac App Store」の登場でビジネスの形態を変えざるを得ない企業が多々出てくることは間違いあるまい…。

無論これからもパッケージとして販売される製品も存在するはずだがその数はかなり限られたものとなるに違いない。