On 6-Jan-2011, at 09:45, Simdude wrote: > > Any thoughts on the Mac App Store and if that is the way BBEdit should > be sold? Just a few of my thoughts: > > 1. The app store will kill a lot of traditional mac app developers if > they don't figure out how to sell that way. App prices are simply > going to plummet and selling apps over about $25 is going to be tough.
I don't agree with the price point. There will be a lot of free apps, and a lot of $10 apps, but I doubt there will be the massive bulk of $0.99 apps like on the iPhone. I don't expect something like BBEdit to be discounted just because it's on the App Store (not that I would MIND, but I certainly don't expect it). Also, the App Store has no way to link a pervious purchase to an app. So, for example, if BBEdit is in the App Store it will show up in my App Store view as a purchased app, but I will not get update information or be able to update it via the App Store without repurchasing BBEdit. It would be nice if there was some way to purchase an upgrade to BBEdit from the App Store so that they were linked, but if that happens I expect it will be a while down the road (and I'm still on BBEdit 8, so I am due to pay for an upgrade sometime anyway). > 2. BBEdit may be able to maintain a higher price point because it's a > more specialized piece of software. That being said, would Barebones > be willing to sell through the app store and give Apple 30%? Is that > cheaper than managing servers and handling credit card charges? Probably not with an established brand and product like BBEdit; taking into account both its overall sales and its price point, I would think it would be difficult to recoup that 30%. For an app with less 'fame' (for lack of a better word), almost certainly. However, I don't know what the bandwidth cost are for distributing BBEdit or what other cost there are associated with maintaining the site. As far as straight payment processing, I doubt Bare Bones is paying more than 7% to DigitalRiver to manage all the payment processing. If they are paying much more than that (10%) then the Mac APp Store probably looks like a much better deal. One other thing is that BBEdit does offer a shrink-wrapped version as well as the download, and I don't think you can do that via the Mac App Store. > 3. The app store will provide instant exposure to a large userbase, > especially for apps that get there early. For BBEdit, that might not > be a big deal and anyone that does coding probably knows about it. But > it could be good for Yojimbo. Agreed. > As a user, I love the idea of the app store. As a developer it would > scare me (I only develop in-house so it won't affect me). The thing we don't know is will the Mac App Store be successful. I suspect it will, but at this point it is still a risk. -- "I don't care if Bill Gates is the world's biggest philanthropist. The pain he has inflicted on the world in the past 20 years through lousy products easily outweighs any good he has done.... Apple is as arrogant as Microsoft but at least its stuff works as advertised" -- Graem Philipson -- You received this message because you are subscribed to the "BBEdit Talk" discussion group on Google Groups. To post to this group, send email to [email protected] To unsubscribe from this group, send email to [email protected] For more options, visit this group at <http://groups.google.com/group/bbedit?hl=en> If you have a feature request or would like to report a problem, please email "[email protected]" rather than posting to the group. Follow @bbedit on Twitter: <http://www.twitter.com/bbedit>
