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Lessons from early days on the Mac App Store with Evernote
Evernote's Phil Libin has posted an article over at our fellow AOL site TechCrunch talking about the app's first week on the Mac App Store and how it all stacked up (he also did a quick hit in the first few days over on the Evernote blog). He says he's learned some pretty astounding things from Evernote's experience so far in the Mac App Store, and probably first among these is a conclusion that I expect a lot of developers to come to in the next few months. While many devs have believed, due to their success on the iOS App Store, that mobile apps were the wave of the future, Libin boils it down: "It isn't mobile that's overwhelmingly important, it's the app store." That's quite a conclusion right there, but sure enough, as you can see in the chart above, the stats stack up. Evernote saw 320,000 downloads through the Mac App Store last week, 120,000 of which were brand new users. That's half of the new accounts created last week, and it's enough to push the Mac OS to the biggest platform on the service. Again, Libin puts it strikingly powerfully: "The presence of a well-formed app store is the single most important factor for the viability of a platform for third party developers." Libin provided additional detail in a recent email to TUAW, saying that he forecasts 95% of all downloads of the Mac client to be straight from the App Store, eventually. According to him, "desktop is viable again," all thanks to the Mac App Store (and hopefully, he muses, a similar platform for Windows someday). He noted that there was quite a bit of effort involved: "Getting into the store for launch day was non-trivial. We declared that this was the most important priority for our Mac team about six weeks [prior to launch] and pulled a few all-nighters between then and now, but it was clearly worth it. Many of the under-the-hood changes that we had to make to get approved were good code hygiene anyway, and we're better off for having made them." That doesn't mean the direct-download version is going away, Libin explains: "primarily because the App Store doesn't let us have an automatic beta track, which has become pretty important to our release engineering," they will be keeping the conventional version available. p.p1 {margin: 0.0px 0.0px 0.0px 0.0px; font: 12.0px 'Lucida Grande'} The whole article is well worth reading, and if indeed Evernote's experience on the Mac App Store becomes representative of many featured independent developers, the opportunities offered there in terms of discovery and ease-of-use will have an enormous impact on how desktop software is bought and sold.
New Cydia release makes re-jailbreaking easier
Saurik is releasing a major update to Cydia that includes a new Manage Account feature. Though it won't help you jailbreak your device, the new version of Cydia will make it easier when you need to re-install your favorite jailbreak applications. Similar to the Mac App Store, this Cydia account lets you keep track of purchased applications and downloads. This is a much-needed feature that iOS 4 unfortunately still lacks. The next time you jailbreak your iOS device and launch Cydia, you will be able to log into your account and easily install your tweaks and apps without having to search the Cydia repositories. The login for this feature is tied directly to your Facebook or Google account so you won't have to remember yet another password. More good news for jailbreakers as a future of version of Cydia will expand on this account feature and let you make comments, add ratings, and back up installed Cydia repositories. [Via Engadget and Redmond Pie]
Apptivate 2.0 adds keystroke sequence shortcuts
There are a plethora of "launcher" apps out there. I've used LaunchBar ($35) since it was released for NeXTStep; other folks seem fond of Alfred (free, with additional powerpack for £12, or about US$20), Butler ($20), Keyboard Maestro ($36) or Google Quick Search Box (free). The venerable but now mostly-dead QuickSilver (cue moment of silence followed by someone yelling out "I'm not dead yet") is being kept alive by a band of merry coders who hope to revive it. Heck, even FastScripts and OS X's own Spotlight can serve as launchers. I come not to replace your favorite launcher, but to supplement it, with an incredibly handy $3 app called Apptivate. Read on for details
Ted Landau explains it all when it comes to Mac App Store restrictions
Ted Landau with the Mac Observer provides an extremely user-friendly look at apps installed via the Mac App Store vs. pre-installed apps and why MAS apps are different from the other apps on your drive. The article gets down to the root level and explains concepts we touched on since MAS' launch as well, such as why third-party apps might appear as being installed, receipt checking and how purchasing MAS apps works when you have multiple Macs. The article makes it clear that you shouldn't switch to the MAS version of an app unless a developer decides to exclusively offer their software through the MAS and forces the switch. Landau also looks at a new CommerceKit private framework installed with OS X 10.6.6 which prompts an Apple ID sign-in when launching unverified MAS apps.
Bodega and MacAppsThatRock help you find new Mac apps
I switched to the Mac several years ago, and I'm still finding apps that have been around for a long time that I wish I had known about sooner. Hopefully the Mac App Store will help, but it also raises two issues: 1) What about apps that aren't in the store (for whatever reason, perhaps because they don't fit Apple's guidelines), and 2) How do you find apps in the Mac App Store? Turns out that "there's an app" for the former and a website for the latter. Regarding the issue of finding apps that aren't in the App Store: Bodega lists many apps, and it even offers deals like NetworkLocation for $14.50 (50% off today). Bodega also lets you keep a wishlist of apps, and it will point out any you've got installed that are in need of updates. Another nice touch is that they have linked to the "Buy" page for apps and will let you purchase them without leaving the app (although it's important to note that you are not buying through Bodega itself, they're just providing a nice wrapper around whatever setup the developers already have in place). But what about apps that are in that shiny new Mac App Store? It opened with almost 1,000 apps on day one, and it's already a challenge to find less popular gems that might not make the "Top" lists or the "Featured" page. That's where macappsthatrock.tumblr.com comes in. The premise and the execution are simple: find great apps, include a screenshot, the official description and the price (if any). I've already found a few gems through the site, including Apptivate (US$3) and Screenninja ($10). My only complaint about the site is that it just pulls the official description in from the app's description pages, making it more of a rehash of the official marketing information than "Here's why I think this app is great and worthy of your attention." On the other hand, the descriptions are usually nice and short, and (if the developers have done a good job writing them) clearly explain what the apps do. Having the prices listed right there is a very good thing too, as I find it annoying to read a review of an app with no indication whether it's free, $5 or $50. You don't have to be a Tumblr user to use MacAppsThatRock, of course. Browse the archive or use the random page feature to find an app that was listed on the site, or grab the RSS feed. (While you're there, don't forget about another of our favorite Tumblr sites, safariextensions.tumblr.com, which highlights more Safari Extensions than are shown on the official page.)
TUAW TV Live at 5 PM ET: Chasing the paperless office and more
CES 2011 is over, Macworld Expo 2011 is just two weeks away, and just twelve days into the new year, we've had a lot to be excited about. Our favorite computers have their very own Mac App Store, the iPhone has a second carrier in the U.S., and the rumors of iPad 2 are beginning to fill the air. Today on TUAW TV Live, I'll be talking about all of these topics and more. You can join in on the discussion through the Ustream chat tool, suggest topics and even see if I can touch my cat without having my mic go offline (you should have been there last week...). I also plan on discussing my mixed success in going to a paperless office in 2010, what software and hardware I used to be able to accomplish those goals and how I expect to move even further towards a paper-free office in 2011. Join the usual suspects for TUAW TV Live at 5 PM ET / 2 PM PT / 10 PM GMT today. Drop by TUAW about 5 minutes before the show goes live, and you'll find a post with instructions on how to watch the live streaming video and use the chat.
Twitter for Mac update removes hidden features
MacHeist bundle owners may be disappointed to discover that the latest version of Twitter for Mac removes the hidden Super Secret menu, which was covertly added by developers. This backdoor was included as a bonus for disgruntled customers who purchased the MacHeist bundle before Tweetie was acquired by Twitter. Bundle owners were promised a free update to Tweetie 2, but that update never materialized. The Super Secret menu was enabled by pressing Control, Option/Alt, and Command keys simultaneously, clicking MacHeist Secret Stuff and entering your credentials into the resulting dialog box. These extra settings let you hide the app in the background, type anywhere to start a tweet and more. The latest version of Twitter for Mac disables this feature by preventing users from accessing the initial MacHeist Secret Stuff menu, at least by using the method listed above. Twitter for Mac users that enabled the Super Secret menu will keep this feature, but new downloads lose the ability activate it using the above method. Though perhaps not desirable, the removal of the Super Secret menu was expected. When this hidden feature was first discovered, we wondered how Apple would respond. Thankfully, Twitter did not have to pull the app from the Mac App Store and was able to push out an update quickly.
Panorama Sheets for Mac: A first look
Back in the first days of the Mac (in the days when I still had a full head of hair) a developer by the name of Jim Rea created one of the first database apps for the platform, Overvue. That application became Panorama (US$299), which is still around and has evolved through the years to remain a powerful and incredibly fast relational database for Mac. Sometimes, though, Mac owners need a database management system that isn't as powerful as Panorama but can handle operations that would choke Excel or Numbers. On January 6, Jim Rea's company -- ProVUE Development -- released a new product into the wild via the Mac App Store. That product is called Panorama Sheets (US$39.99) and it uses a spreadsheet-like interface for all data entry, searching, sorting, and data analysis and manipulation. The app has a feature called Total Recall that can protect your data through system crashes and power outages, and uses the same RAM-based database engine as Panorama for blinding speed in sorts and other operations. One feature that's sure to be popular with Mac users who need to manipulate large address list databases is support for many Avery mailing labels. If a database has standard address fields (first name, last name, street address, etc...), Panorama Sheets will automatically configure the fields on a label. If a field is missing (like the ever-popular "address2" field), the app automatically slides label fields up and to the left so there are no blank areas on the mailing label. Panorama Sheets also converts raw data into an interactive summary outline with subtotals, averages, and other calculations. Searches can be done phonetically with a "soundslike" operator, combined, and saved for future reference. If you're interested in trying Panorama Sheets to see if it's right for you, ProVUE has a 15-day free trial version available for download.
CoverSutra kerfuffle highlights Mac App Store teething troubles
The Mac App Store is off to a great start, but it's not all sweetness and light. Users have been confused by how some third party apps bought elsewhere show as "installed" in the store UI whilst others don't -- and in fairness, it is confusingly inconsistent. Meanwhile, developers are struggling to deal with the lack of upgrade pricing, and what that means for their existing customers. As with the iOS App Store, everyone buying an app pays the same price, whether they are a new customer or someone who bought a previous version. There is also no ability to "grandfather in" licenses from elsewhere. For example, I purchased Pixelmator v1.6 from its website for $60 back in September, but the team has now announced that v2 will be exclusive to the Mac App Store. If they had maintained the $60 price point, I would have had to pay the full amount again in order to move my license from their own system and onto the Mac App Store. Generously, they have dealt with this by offering Pixelmator v1.6 for $30 on the store for a limited time -- with a free upgrade to v2 when it is released. This isn't perfect; some people like me feel annoyed that they paid twice the current rate just a few months ago for a product that won't get an upgrade to v2, and Pixelmator's developers are also effectively giving new customers an upgrade discount they perhaps shouldn't be entitled to. Overall, though, it's the best of a bad set of choices they can make. Not all devs are having such a smooth ride, however.
Keeping your Mac apps up-to-date without the Mac App Store
One of the great features of the Mac App Store is the notification system that tells you when there is an update to one of you apps. However as we've seen, unless you buy all your apps through the Mac App Store, you won't receive notice of updates to apps purchased or download outside the store. Luckily there is a very handy widget I've used for years (and that we've noted before) that automatically scours the net for updates to installed apps on your Mac. AppUpdate is the brainchild of Georg Kaindl and with the click of a button searches three software tracking sites: Apple's (soon to be defunct) Downloads page, MacUpdate, and Version Tracker (now owned by Cnet). After running the widget, you'll see links all the updates to the apps on your Mac. You'll still have to click the links to go to the app's download pages, but running this widget is a lot less time-consuming than going to all of the software tracking sites and entering your apps manually, or even running the "Check for Updates" menu command that many apps offer. (If you prefer a non-widget update manager, both Cnet's TechTracker Free and the under-development Appfresh are worth checking out.) The developer notes that he knows Version Tracker has been rolled into Cnet, and that he will be updating the widget to scan Cnet's Download pages in the future. As for the Apple Downloads pages, the scanning works for now. But even without these two sources, I've found MacUpdate always offers the most current listings of any app updates. AppUpdate is a free download -- best of all it works on any Mac that is running Mac OS X 10.4 or later.
Pixelmator now $30, available exclusively on Mac App Store
Pixelmator is an image-editing app for Mac that has a lot of fans. For just US$59, it performs many of the tasks that can also be done with the much more expensive Adobe Photoshop. The developers, Saulius and Aidas Dailide, have announced that Pixelmator will now be available exclusively through the Mac App Store. The price tag for Pixelmator has dropped as well; for a limited time, you can purchase the app for $29.99, making it even more of a bargain. So why did the developers decide to move Pixelmator to the Mac App Store? In a blog posting on the Pixelmator site, they cite the following reasons (quoted from the post): The Mac App Store is the future of Pixelmator (and probably of all other great Mac apps, too) sales and distribution. Thanks to the Mac App Store, installation of your favorite image editor becomes easier than ever. Because we are always improving Pixelmator, you will rest assured that your Pixelmator is always up-to-date with the latest improvements and features within the Mac App Store. With the Mac App Store, you can easily re-download Pixelmator anytime you wish. This is especially useful when you get a new Mac. With the Mac App Store, the headaches of dealing with all those serial numbers and anti-piracy system stuff are gone forever. Peter Cohen at The Loop interviewed Saulius Dailide, and the interview reveals insights into the price change -- it's basically a way for existing users of the app to transition to the new Mac App Store purchase and upgrade infrastructure without being penalized. By purchasing the app at the lower price point now, buyers receive a free upgrade to the upcoming Pixelmator 2.0. Several of the TUAW staffers have made Pixelmator their first Mac App Store purchase, and during the transition period it's certainly a good deal for a great piece of software.
Mac App Store support page a day late to the party
A day after it was needed, the Mac App Store support page has gone live. It largely contains information found in the help file in the Mac App Store app itself. It does address the pesky 'error 100' issue that we reported on Thursday as well. If you don't happen to have an up-to-date OS, Apple helpfully points you in the right direction for downloads and the forums where you can discuss the pros and cons of the 1-day-old store.
Mac App Store launch day: roundup of TUAW's coverage
If you somehow missed the news, yesterday the Mac App Store went live (somewhat earlier than the midday ET that had been rumored, which caused an amusing all-hands-on-deck scramble in the TUAW newsroom!), and as you'd expect, we were right there in the thick of it reporting the news as it broke. If you missed some or all of our posts, never fear -- here's what you need to know to get caught up on Apple's latest assault on your wallet. First off, the basics. We showed you how to find the Mac App Store (including the useful tip that you can get to it from the Apple menu if you remove it from the Dock), a gallery of the basic UI and another one walking you through the app downloading experience. We were also happy to see that the store itself is its own app, rather than yet another thing crammed into iTunes. A big launch-day release exclusive to the Mac App Store was Twitter (formerly Tweetie) v2.0, and Steve took a look and liked what he saw.
Mac App Store downloads surpass 1 million in first day
Let's say it's off to a good start. Apple has announced that users downloaded over 1 million apps from the Mac App Store since its launch just over 24 hours ago. That's a truly incredible number. The fact that millions of iOS users instantly knew how to use the Mac App Store certainly helped. "We're amazed at the incredible response the Mac App Store is getting," Steve Jobs said in a press release. "Developers have done a great job bringing apps to the store and users are loving how easy and fun the Mac App Store is." We can assume that sales will slow down after the initial rush, but for now Steve et al. can enjoy some good news as their weekends begin. Show full PR text CUPERTINO, California-January 7, 2011-Apple® today announced that over one million apps have been downloaded from the Mac® App Store℠ in the first day. With more than 1,000 free and paid apps, the Mac App Store brings the revolutionary App Store experience to the Mac, so you can find great new apps, buy them using your iTunes® account, download and install them in just one step. "We're amazed at the incredible response the Mac App Store is getting," said Steve Jobs, Apple's CEO. "Developers have done a great job bringing apps to the store and users are loving how easy and fun the Mac App Store is." The Mac App Store offers apps in Education, Games, Graphics & Design, Lifestyle, Productivity, Utilities and other categories. Users can browse new and noteworthy apps, find out what's hot, see staff favorites, search categories and look up top charts for paid and free apps, as well as user ratings and reviews. The Mac App Store is available for Snow Leopard® users through Software Update as part of Mac OS® X v10.6.6. Mac developers set the price for their apps, keep 70 percent of the sales revenue, are not charged for free apps and do not have to pay hosting, marketing or credit card fees. To find out more about developing for the Mac App Store visit developer.apple.com/programs/mac. Apple designs Macs, the best personal computers in the world, along with OS X, iLife, iWork, and professional software. Apple leads the digital music revolution with its iPods and iTunes online store. Apple is reinventing the mobile phone with its revolutionary iPhone and App Store, and has recently introduced its magical iPad which is defining the future of mobile media and computing devices.
Mac App Store hits one million downloads on day one
Apple's just announced that its freshly baked Mac App Store's already hit the one million download mark on its launch day, with more than 1,000 titles -- including both free and paid apps -- up for grabs. Can't say we're surprised, really, especially with popular apps like Angry Birds, Flight Control, and Twitter presumably taking a good chunk out of the bandwidth. In case you're still wondering what the deal is, feel free to take a look at our Mac App Store hands-on.
TUAW's Daily App: ArtRage
ArtRage is a very slick drawing and painting app, originally for Windows and Mac, but now also found on the iPad. The app is extremely realistic. You can use any number of various brushes and paints, and the colors will even blend and warp on the canvas as you lay them down, just as they would on a real surface. The iPad app even allows for unlimited layers and blending, and it can export files out with a sync or send them straight to email for the Photo library. ArtRage is an excellent app for the iPad, and just for the CES 2011 show, it's been discounted to just US$1.99. If you're interested in a serious art app for the iPad, that's a bargain at even twice the price. We got to meet Ambient Design at CES just last evening here at the show in Las Vegas, and in addition to chatting about the iPad app and the sale, we asked the representative if ArtRage would find its way onto the Mac App Store as well, since the original program is still available for OS X. But we were told that it wouldn't. There was an issue with the way that ArtRage opens certain file formats in layers, and the company rep told us that because Apple was leery of malware and locking down the way certain apps opened certain files, ArtRage as it exists wouldn't be allowed in the store. That's too bad. Hopefully as the Mac App Store develops, Apple will find a way for developers like Ambient Design to do what they want to do.
iWork '11 hinted at on Apple web page, then disappears
Several TUAW readers and our very own Mike Schramm pointed out something interesting today: on Apple's web page about the Mac app store, one of the screenshots shows a link for the iWork '11 apps. iWork '11? The suite made up of Pages, Numbers and Keynote that didn't make it into the Mac App Store on opening day? Yeah, that iWork '11. Earlier today we were all looking at this page, which showed a store screen with a link to iWork '11: If you happen to go to the same page now, you'll notice it's a bit different: It could mean nothing, or it could be that the suite was pulled from the App Store at the last minute, resulting in some poor web designer getting screamed at by Steve Jobs for not removing the characters "'11" from a rather insignificant web page. Time will tell. Any bets on when iWork '11 will finally drop?
Twitter for Mac 2.0: A first look
The first Mac app I downloaded this morning after finishing the update to Mac OS X 10.6.6 was Twitter for Mac 2.0. This is the app formerly named Tweetie, and it's a free download from the Mac App Store. If you have previously used another Twitter client on your Mac, or if you're currently using the eponymous Twitter app on iOS, then you're going to want to at least give Twitter for Mac a try. Here's how to get Twitter from the App Store. Note that you must be running 10.6.6 on an Intel Mac to use this app. For those who are using Twitter on iPad, the decision to install Twitter for Mac 2.0 should be a no-brainer. The user interface is remarkably similar to what you're used to on iPad, with one notable exception -- when you click on a link in the Mac app, your default browser is launched to view the content. In the iPad app, that content appears in a sliding pane within the app itself. Perhaps this will be a feature of a future Mac OS X 10.7 version of the app, since the future OS is destined to become more iOS-like. Photos do open in another little window created by the app. %Gallery-113055%
It's Clippy! Back as a Mac App Store utility
It may not be Microsoft Bob, but boy am I happy that I installed Clippy (US$0.99 in the Mac App Store) on my Mac. No, Clippy isn't that annoying "It looks like you are writing a letter" implementation from years past, but something far more helpful. The new Clippy, the better Clippy, the Macintosh Clippy allows your Mac to remember previous pasteboard entries for those always awkward times when you have to copy not one but two or more separate items after another. You can pull items as you need them directly from the menu bar at the top of Finder. That's brilliant. Clippy is, at the current time, text only -- so you're not going to be able to store images, sound snippets and the like. Also, it doesn't seem to store text formatting along with the core text, which is either a disappointment or the Best Thing Ever, depending on your use case and viewpoint. I'm really happy with my $0.99 purchase -- and if you do a lot of copy and pasting you may be, too. Clippy was created by Naheed Kausar of Faw_zz. Commenters also suggest the non-App Store (and free!) options of JumpCut or ClipMenu, both of which are listed as still under development. There's another tool that's both open source and for sale in the Mac App Store: Clyppan, which costs $10 in the store (version 1.1) but is also apparently downloadable to build yourself in Xcode (version 1.0).
Buy once, install everywhere with Mac App Store
One of my favorite parts about the new Mac App Store is that it is "buy one, run everywhere" just like iOS apps on the iPad or iPhone/iPod touch. It has always been the case that you can buy an app at the iOS App Store and use it on all of your iOS devices. "Desktop" software has often been frustratingly limited to one or two computers. I'm thinking especially of the new Microsoft Office suite, but there are many, many other apps (especially ones from Adobe) which ties a license to a single (or sometimes two) machine. If you buy, say, The Incident for Mac for $3 from the Mac App Store, you can use it on all of your Macs. Simply launch the Mac App Store on your second (or third or fourth, etc) computer and look under "Purchases" and you will see all of the apps that you have purchased. Apps which are already installed will be shown as "Installed" and greyed out. Apps you can install will be shown in a black box labeled "Install." Click it and the app will automatically download and install to your /Applications/ folder. If you want to go right to that app's page, just tap-err, I mean click! the app icon and it will take you to the appropriate page. I'd love to see the iOS App Store be updated to have a list of purchases that I have made so I know which apps I have purchased but not yet installed. The Mac App Store's purchase history page is much better than the way iTunes manages your iOS purchases. Maybe Apple could call its next event "Back to the iOS!"
