Unauthoritative Pronouncements

I really like this column that Jason Snell wrote for Macworld, though I did grab the title from his own Six Colors site instead of the Macworld one. Jason’s absolutely right in his assessment of why Mac app distribution is superior to the iOS App Store.

In fact, not long after I read the piece Sarah Perez from TechCrunch posted about the TV Time app being pulled from the App Store because a rights holder was abusing the DMCA takedown system and no one at the App Store seemed to mind until Tech Crunch came knockin’.

That bureaucratic failure of a developer falling between the cracks is merely one of many that have happened over the years. Anyone following Apple blogs is pretty used to seeing these kinds of stories about apps getting pulled, and put back because of the inconsistent nature of Apple’s App Store review process. Jason deftly critiqued that in his column, along with apps that have to leave the store because they can’t function under the sandboxing rules, or bizarre accessibility catch-alls that they used to. He also touted the advantages of notarization for safety, and flexibility.

Devil’s Appvocate

I am loathe to pretend that I agree with defending the status quo of the iOS App Store, but let’s just pretend I hate myself a whole lot so we can proceed, OK?

Jason talks about the Mac being a model, and points to the ability to run App Store apps, notarized apps, and non-notarized apps.

However, fans of the locked down iOS App Store will note that without people being forced to use the Mac App Store Mac developers can steer users away from it, and into suboptimal situations for users (cough, and Apple). They can do things like have people buy software from a weird web site they may not 100% trust, and get a license key in their email. What will that developer do with their email address, billing info, and other data? Can they even be sure that the app they downloaded from a site is the genuine one and not an opportunistic bit of SEO hackery?

Add to that the complication of developers doing things they shouldn’t do. Without the stick of App Review on iOS how can Apple keep developers in line? What’s to keep developers from scribbling massive files all over your drive? There’s not much of a carrot to encourage good behavior as the App Store doesn’t really help with discovery or marketing like it used to.

On the Mac, Apple gave up competing with software from outside of the Mac App Store years ago, and all the developers that have pulled their apps out of the store are a testament to that. In many cases it’s because of functionality, or things as simple as upgrade pricing. Apple won’t make the Mac App Store an attractive alternative to notarization.

Surely, that’s some kind of punishment for the failure of Mac users and developers to get with Apple’s program, and not the other way around, right?

Jason notes the ways that Apple has made non-notarized apps unattractive and scary, as he says, “It may scare you, cajole you, and hide the button that allows you to run that app in the basement in a disused lavatory behind a door with a sign on it that says ‘Beware of the Leopard,’ but it will let you run it.”

However Apple hasn’t put any effort into the opposite scenario of sticking to apps from the Mac App Store. There’s no gilded courtyard in the walled garden where sunbeams gently glow and singing birds alight on your finger. The Mac App Store is a Staples in a bad part of town with ancient, often irrelevant inventory lining dusty shelves. Sure, it’s better than the leopard lavatory, but it’s not a particularly enticing alternative.

That old, and irrelevant inventory is a key problem. The apps people want to really use generally aren’t going to be found in the Mac App Store unless they’re apps Apple makes. Think about how many times you’ve seen Apple demo Cinema4D, Blender, or anything from Adobe that isn’t Photoshop Elements or Lightroom. There’s a void where the Mac App Store is missing the apps they use to show off their own hardware’s capabilities. But they still demo that software because it’s the software that gets people to spend money on Apple’s hardware.

Surely, we don’t want this disinterest to fall on iOS? We don’t want another disused, gray, box of a store. If people aren’t held by force inside of this magical font of app development then no one will ever use it!

Not Today, Satan

The real solution is to dissolve those barriers to the iOS App Store, as Jason argues, going even further than the EU, and towards that imperfect Mac model. The reason that the Mac App Store gathers cobwebs is because Apple gave up on caring if it earns money when compared to its far more profitable predecessor. It couldn’t come close to the money the iOS App Store made, which is why Apple today expends so much effort arguing for iOS to remain as it is. It’s not because apps outside the App Store kill the App Store, it’s because the App Stores need to compete for business and if you don’t compete, well, you’re an office supply store owner hoping someone just doesn’t know how to shop on the internet.