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Mac OS X 10.6.6 Introduces App Store
Orome1 writes "Apple today released Mac OS X 10.6.6 which increases the stability, compatibility, and security of your Mac. What's also very important in this release is the introduction of the long-awaited Mac App Store with more than 1,000 free and paid apps."
Having just downloaded the update, I find the pricing very interesting. I'm in the UK at the moment, so YMMV if you're elsewhere, but Apple's own software is significantly cheaper on the App store than on DVD from the normal Apple store. I actually used Aperture (Apple's pro photo application) as an example yesterday of something we wouldn't be seeing on the app store - turns out that not only was I wrong, but they've given it a major price cut: £173 for a boxed copy, or £44.99 for a download on the app store. Similarly, iLife sells for £46, but the three component apps are £8.99 each (so £27 total) on the app store. iWork follows the same template: £72 boxed, or £11.99 each for the three apps that it's formed from.
A quick browse through makes it fairly clear that the pricing is rather disparate at the moment - I expect it'll settle down as people have a bit more experience with the store - but the thing that surprises me is the quantity of software at £11.99 or so; some of it seems overpriced, some of it seems reasonable, but in either case I absolutely wasn't expecting that price point to be so popular. It seems too high for a basic utility which may or may not be better than the best OSS offering, and too low for a serious application (although Apple's decision to place their office applications at that price means maybe it is high enough for serious software if they plan to make it up in volume). Whether it survives is anyone's guess, though.
One of the guidelines for submitting to the app store is x86 / x86_64 binaries only. Fat binaries with PPC code segments aren't allowed.
There doesn't appear to be any intent from Apple to backport it into anything older than Snow Leopard, and even if they did add it to Leopard, it would be Intel only.
This
Apologies for replying to myself, but it'd be useful if someone could post the USD prices for comparison - see if they're trying to implement regional price differences (over and above the necessary exchange rate + taxes) or not.
Take a look at this article:
Mac App Store Launches with 1,000 Apps, Big Discounts
Apple's flagship photo-editing software, Aperture, is in the store for just $80. You can still buy it from the conventional Apple Store, but it'll cost the usual $200.
The three iWork apps, Pages, Numbers and Keynote, cost $20 apiece, a saving on the usual $80 bundle price.
Sapere aude!