With OS X Lion, It’s No Longer Point & Click, It’s Flick & Swipe It feels like we’re on the verge of something — “feel” being the keyword. Personal computing has more or less been the same for a few decades now. It’s the mouse, the keyboard, the monitor, and the machine. On stage last week during their Back to the Mac event, Apple gave a sneak peak at some of what they have in store for the next version of OS X. Jobs also made it clear that Apple wouldn’t be creating touchscreen Macs anytime soon. Obviously, neither of those products was an accident. Sure, Apple has included certain multi-touch options in OS X for some time now; first for MacBook users with multi-touch trackpads, then for Magic Mouse and Magic Trackpad users. As Apple VP of OS X, Craig Federighi, demoed on stage last week, to navigate new features such as full-screen apps and Mission Control, it’s no longer point & click, it’s flick and swipe. Yes, pointing and clicking can still be involved for some of this, but it seems that it’s more of the fallback now.
Might The Mac App Store Lead To A New Class Of Micro-Apps? This weekend, Ryan Block put up an interesting post on gdgt entitled: Will the Mac App Store have enough to sell? He raises a number of good points for why Apple may not be able to replicate their current App Store success with this new desktop store. But I’m left wondering if the store won’t lead to a new class of app: a sort of micro-app for the desktop. Block makes the following points: a) high-end software like Photoshop won’t be placed in this store because Adobe won’t want to give Apple a 30 percent cut of all sales. b) most paid desktop software is dead or dying due to free replacements on the web. c) Apple’s strict rules will prevent developers from using this new store for test or demo software. Here’s what I’m thinking: one of the most popular apps since the inception of the iPhone App Store has been Pandora. What about a Mac desktop Twitter client? But a real opportunity may exist in small apps that don’t just fully mimic popular web apps, but instead extend upon them.
Will the Mac App Store have enough to sell? Originally published in the gdgt... Under The Microscope » Blog Archive » Quick Thoughts on the Mac App Store After more than two years of the App Store on iOS, Apple has finally decided to bring an App Store to the Mac as well. It’s certainly not unexpected, but for many developers, it’s an idea which has sparked feelings of both excitement and dread. The App Store on iOS has been phenomenally successful for Apple, for users, and for some developers. We’re still gathering information about the Mac App Store, but a quick look at some pros and cons may be informative. Pros The Mac App Store will make it possible for developers to reach nearly 100% of Mac users (on Mac OS X 10.6 or up, anyhow). As well, the Mac App Store will offer an improved experience for users of third party software. Cons For developers, however, there are quite a few cons to the Mac App Store, when compared to selling on our own. As the iOS App Store has shown, developing under these conditions is of course still possible. Worth Noting Coming Soon? Footnotes: 1.
From The Hip — The Times They Are a-Changin' Tread Lightly When Embracing The Mac App Store Is there really any doubt the Mac App Store will be anything other than a huge hit when it debuts in 90 days? Seven billion downloads on the current App Store would suggest that Apple knows what it’s doing (and that people really love to slingshot cartoon birds into buildings). And the benefits of the App Store are clear: it’s an easy-to-use, one-stop source of safe, tested software. Usually. But is that scenario ideal when it comes to desktop operating systems? When Apple rolls out the Mac App Store in three months’ time, it will have created a new “class” of Mac software: Apple-approved and App Store-certified. You can also be sure that Apple will leverage the Mac App Store to sell its own software, further boosting the status of all software found on the Mac App Store. And perhaps bordering on the conspiratorial, why would you want Apple granting or denying its seal of approval on the software you run on your computer? Do I expect that to ever happen? /me ducks
Mozilla Director Says Apple Trying to "Bypass the Web" As we noted earlier this morning, Apple's Mac Store guidelines have been revealed, including the long list of apps Apple plans to reject. While some developers will jump at the chance for exposure a Mac App Store provides, not everyone in the industry is happy about the news - least of all, Mozilla Firefox chief Mike Beltzner. For him, Apple's version of a desktop-based Mac App Store is especially disturbing. In fact, Beltzner accused Apple as attempting to "bypass the Web" altogether. After hearing Steve Jobs speak at the press conference, Beltzner tweeted, "I wonder when Apple will stop shipping Safari. It's obvious already from today's keynote that they're looking to bypass the web." I wonder when Apple will stop shipping Safari. Mike Beltznerbeltzner The Mac App Store news comes only a day after Mozilla itself announced its own "open Web app store" - a move we recently called promising. In Mozilla's vision, the open Web "is a great platform for rich applications." More Complaints
Mac App Store: What Do Apple’s A-List Developers Think? So there’s going to be an App Store for the Mac, just like the App Store we’re all used to on iOS. What do OS X developers think of this? I got in touch with a bunch of devs to ask them what they make of it. Many of them are still reading through the official documentation, and some of the questions they ask below may well be answered there. But here are some of their very first impressions… Brent Simmons, creator of NetNewsWire: I’m partly excited and partly worried. Tinkerability is huge — it’s part of the fun of Mac apps. Will we also be able to sell our apps outside the App Store, at the same time? Will there be demo/trial versions? There are so many questions — it’s hard to be positive or negative about it. Gus Mueller, of Flying Meat Software: I’m cautiously optimistic. Eric Boehnisch-Volkmann of Devon Technologies: We at DEVONtechnologies are not surprised and we think that for the users it will be a great enhancement. Dominique Leca, developer of Sparrow: It’s wonderful news. vs.
Mac App Store: More Developer Reaction Yesterday we posted some first impressions of the Mac App Store by a list of some of the finest software developers around. Overnight we’ve had more responses from more superb developers, so here for your reading pleasure are their initial thoughts about the Store and what it means for their business. Overall the mood is positive, but uncertain. (And to all the developers who took part, providing comment for this post and yesterday’s, Cult of Mac would like to say a big, big thank you. Rich Siegel, founder of Bare Bones Software: The App Store is a fantastic opportunity for us. James Thomson, creator of DragThing and PCalc: I’m not at all surprised – I’d been expecting an announcement of a Mac App Store at WWDC for the last couple of years running. For developers, it brings almost exactly the same pros and cons as the iOS store. The real question is whether Apple will actually approve our apps. Certainly, this will completely change the Mac software market. Related
Live from Apple's 'Back to the Mac' event Check back at the times below! 07:00AM - Hawaii10:00AM - Pacific11:00AM - Mountain12:00PM - Central01:00PM - Eastern06:00PM - London07:00PM - Paris09:00PM - Moscow02:00AM - Tokyo (October 21st) 11:28AM We're off to get our hands on these things! 11:28AM Thanks for reading along! 11:28AM Hands on time! 11:28AM Well, we definitely want a MacBook Air after seeing the video. 11:26AM The flash storage is placed directly onto the logic board as opposed to in an SSD unit. 11:24AM Phil: "The best way to deliver multitouch is through the trackpad." 11:23AM Ah, Ive is waxing philosophical. 11:22AM "We also made a video I'd like to show you... let's run that." 11:22AM These computers are pure sex. 11:21AM "So, we made an ad!" 11:21AM "Both of them are available starting... today." 11:21AM $999 for 64GB, $1199 for 128GB for the 11.6, 13.3 is $1299 for 128GB, $1599 for 256GB 11:20AM Pricing starts at $999. 11:20AM "So what are we going to price these at? 11:18AM "So what's inside this puppy? 11:03AM Ah!