iOS Developers Making Leap to the Mac

Chris Foreman at Ars Technica reports about several iOS developers porting their apps to the Mac App Store:

These developers warned, however, that it wasn’t fair to make direct comparisons with the iOS App Store at this early stage. For one, every iOS device has access to the iOS App Store, while only those who applied the Mac OS X 10.6.6 update can access the Mac App Store. And, as Crawford pointed out, there are more iOS devices in active use than there are Macs.

Frampton compared initial sales volumes to the early days of the App Store on the iPhone. “The overall size of the market seems very similar to the early days of the iOS App Store, and in fact I get a very distinct feeling of déjà vu,” he said. “The Mac App Store market may never catch up, but it certainly has a lot of room to grow.”

“Sales tend to eventually level out and that’s yet to happen on the Mac App Store,” Comi agreed.

As more users upgrade to 10.6.6 (a friend of mine ran Software Update a week ago, almost a month after the Mac App Store introduction), there will still be a considerable userbase stuck on previous versions of Snow Leopard. That’s the problem with the Mac App Store coming as an “add-on” to the OS. However, I believe that, in the end, apps will be the reason why these people will be “forced” to upgrade to the latest SL version. The more great apps are released in the Mac App Store, the more people will say “Hey, maybe I really need to update”.

It’s not the Mac App Store as a “feature” by itself, it’s the ecosystem of a platform for great software.