My take on the (OS X) App Store so far

The App Store … it’s Terrific, Average, and Awful all at the same time.

I’ve been asked a few times now what I think about the app store. Never before has a feature scored terrific, average, and awful all at the same time for me. Here’s the break down.

What’s Terrific
Apple has made the integration as sweet and easy as System Update, with a trivial installation process that just works universally.

But that’s not the part that has me whistling Dixie — it’s that applications no longer use serial numbers nor do they phone home, instead they use cryptography. Nothing to pollute your network traffic. No software failing validation checks on a plane unable to reach a server.

And, given that I can now run software I paid for on machines owned by me, that’s a big win.

Plus, it unifies the Apple-culture a bit more in that upgrades work the way you expect: you don’t have to always reach for your wallet or buy stupid subscriptions.

What’s Average
The user interface, while simple, still isn’t hammered out in that perfect design that ever-so-well fits the problem space that Apple’s known for. For instance, under certain circumstances, buttons don’t behave the same way potentially causing one to purchase an unexpected item.

The store is missing a CONFIRM button before purchases, a CANCEL button as it’s happening, and more importantly a RETURN UNOPENED if it gets to the doc.

Many apps that have been acquired from other means don’t show up as INSTALLED, making for a very bumpy upgrade path. Others work just fine. Hopefully that will stabilize in the future.

What’s Awful
Some apps are dumbed down in terms of functional restrictions of the features we know and love due to Apple’s Terms of Use. There’s also fears of rejections by Apple, in addition to dealing with the approval process that still doesn’t feel completely worked out or entirely equitable between similar applications or that could be considered competitive.

Browsing the App Store, one notices the gross lack of a Genius mode.

Plus, while there are supposed to be a bazillion apps out there already, only a small handful appear to be browseable. This raises concerns that a popular app may drown out a cheaper and better competitor. Hopefully there will be more ways to slice and dice the browsing experience.

However, two major complaints are still outstanding and pretty valid.

One is that most of the apps on the App Store are crap — the easy distribution mechanism has flooded the market with apps of low interest of quality. It’s like when everyone published a flashlight app for the iPhone, and iFart was the talk of the town. For the historically minded, it was like when Atari opened its console system, and while it had the most game, only a handful were worth playing. Hopefully the rating system will help this problem. In the meanwhile, each ugly app drags the reputation of the App Store down a notch; unless the ratio reverses, the App Store will take on the same appeal as a yard sale.

Two is that many of the apps are priced in ways that don’t make a lot of sense. Someone produces a fantastic game, and it’s a dollar or less. Someone else produces a horrible looking monstrosity and charges $19.95 for it. The costs don’t reflect the features or quality. And, while good in the short term, and just the short term, we may see a plunge much the way that most iPhone apps cost 99 cents.

Caution – the new Mac App Store just bit me

Be VERY careful when using the Mac App Store — here’s how it purchased an app without my permission, along with THREE simple things Apple could have done to fix the problem.

Admittedly, I had my skepticism about how an App Store was going to fair servicing applications to the desktop.

The majority of Mac users seem to quickly grasp dragging an icon to a folder or double clicking the installer; the “hard” part is unzipping a file or opening a disk image file. But perhaps there is a target audience that still has a hard time of installing apps and keeping them up to date.

The downsides I expected were the less obvious things: Apple wanting a chunk of each sale resulting in trickle down inflated prices (though for the moment quite the opposite seems to have happened), certain established apps getting marketing preference due to historic purchases rather than innovative replacements getting visibility, the fear of embedded application ads becoming mainstream in the Mac culture, etc.

I saw up sides too, with copy protection and serial number issues going away. This of course had other down sides, such as apps having to check in with the Internet. I figured this meant a lot more problems for the publishers than the end consumers.

Seems I was wrong about that. I just got bit by the App Store.

I made my first Mac App Store purchase today, and in order to do so I had to authenticate. And, I’m happy to report, the purchase process works exactly as described — the application was downloaded and installed seamlessly. Go Apple!

I then decided to see if there was an update to Aperture, which I had commercially bought. Sure enough, when I went to its page, it said it was already Installed. Clever. Well done, Apple.

This is where things start to get weird. Non-Apple applications, like Coda, which I had externally bought and purchased a while back correctly showed up as Installed as well. This was nice.

But, then I noticed that a packaged I had already purchased, had a license and receipt for, and was already installed, OmniGraphSketcher, was in the App Store, too. It did not show itself as installed. And, wanting to see if it was a newer version, I clicked on it — and next thing I know, the App store begins to purchase it.

The problematic BUY button.Fundamentally the problem seems to be that the purchase button behaves differently whether or not you’re authenticated. Plus, you’re two pixels away from Copy Link / Tell a Friend from an actual purchase.

For me, it was an unexpected $30.00 hit to the wallet simply because the buttons didn’t behave the same way they had a moment ago. That’s just not right, especially not from Apple who studies user interfaces with the same passion you or I crave oxygen.

While I’m screaming, “No, no, no, NO, NO!!!” at my machine, which doesn’t help by the way, I was taken aback that there was NO CONFIRMATION process, nor was there a CANCEL option, nor was there a RETURN UNOPENED option.

Bad Apple, bad.

Because I had previously authenticated for a prior application, it blindly assumed I authorized this purchase. That’d be like buying one item in a store, and after the cashier touched your credit card, anything else you picked up in the store would get bought too.

I’ve just written to Apple at http://www.apple.com/support/mac/app-store/, and we’ll see where that goes.

UPDATE: Got a very kind email from Apple who credited me the correct amount, but for the wrong line item. I sent them a follow up because I want the right developer to be paid.

If this is an indication of how Apple will deal with application purchases in the future, we can all breath a happy sigh of relief. My own hesitations about exploring the App Store have been lightened. Plus I know never-ever-ever touch anything that looks like a price tag button, instead click the icon which doesn’t look clickable.

Changes at the Apple Store – For the Better!

Apple has changed the Genius Bar policies and procedures. INCREDIBLE IMPROVEMENTS!

Anyone who’s been to an Apple Store, especially the one in Tysons Corner, VA, knows that Apple is experiencing some serious growth pains. Yes, as predicted, more and more people are starting to adopt Apple hardware and software and the cost/benefit factor becomes more apparent. The hardware is not that much more expensive, and if you take in to account all the stuff you get and all the stuff you don’t need to buy, it’s actually a pretty sweet deal for the total cost of ownership. Vista didn’t win any favors, Windows 7 is invoking similar fear, and Apple’s forth coming Snow Leopard looks like it’s going to be dealing a death blow. Meanwhile the number of ways to run Windows applications on a Mac, even the graphically intensive ones, are climbing — that a Mac won’t run Windows software is just not true.

Where Apple dropped the ball was the in-store support. If you walked into the store, all appointments were filled. Even if you registered in advance, you couldn’t be seen before hand. And turns were taken in the ordered registered — which meant if you had the identical problem as the person at the counter, and someone required 45 minutes of training in front of you, you had to wait. In short, it was awful and you had resort to gaming the system to get seen when scheduled.

As it turned out, my iPhone started wonking out on me when it came to WiFi. My connections would drop, and with the last firmware update, my WiFi connection would drop seconds after being established. Manually cycling WiFi, power cycling, rebooting, and even firmware reloading did not solve the problem. All I could use was Edge, even when someone next to me could see the network access point at full strength on their iPhone.

I loathed the idea of going in to the Apple Store with a real hardware problem, which would require seeing a Genius, especially a shopping day or so before Christmas Eve.

Unbeknownst to me, Apple had made substantial improvements in customer service, the likes of which exceeded all my hopes and expectations. Check this out!

The moment I crossed the store threshold, I was greeted with “Welcome to the Apple Store, is there anything I can help you with?”

“Uh, no, I’m here for a Genius Bar appointment, and I’m an hour ahead of schedule.”

“No problem sir, I’ll register you’re in-store, so head on over to the bar now, and we’ll see if they can take you early.”

Huh? Normally the Genius Bar has a crowd around it with very frustrated people, and four to six gurus working madly. However, as I looked over there were only two, and tons of empty stools, and zero crowd waiting. Meanwhile, the store looked busier than I have ever seen it.

I go over and take a seat. Again, I’m greeted, they ask my name, and they say they see me as appointment number 9. Usually that means that I can expect an hour and a half wait.

However, I’m watching as the two people there are taking cases, and the moment they require some hardware restore or check, they start the automated job and immediately start taking the next person. They’re working concurrently, and they are cranking through the list.

Less than five minutes later, it’s my turn.

“What seems to be the problem?”

As I’m describing it, I notice he’s typing. So I pause and ask what he’s doing.

He tells me, “I’m setting up an order in the computer to replace your phone with a new one. I’m going to flash the firmware, and if that solves it, I’ll press cancel and give you your phone back. If it doesn’t, I’ll hit submit. Either way, you’ll have a working phone in five minutes or less.”

My mouth drops.

“While I do this, do you mind if I take another customer?”

“Uh, no, of course not.” And he calls the next person in line. I’m shocked. I’m impressed. I’m please. And everyone at the Genius Bar starts socializing with one another. It’s turning into a little party.

As he’s talking to the other customer, he’s pulled out a box, moved the SIM card from my phone into the new one, and pushes the new phone and the paper work my direction. I sign it, and he says to me, “You’re all set. And 15 minutes before your appointment was supposed to start.”

That couldn’t be right, I was there an hour early. Looks like they bumped me up in line a few times when “Last call for Mr. Noshow” was hollered out.

I did get to talk with the Genius, and he stated that Apple now allowed them to take people early, as well as work concurrently, and group similar cases together. It was clear that this removed all congestion and put them ahead of the game.

For as I was talking with him, a floor person came over and said “I have a woman on hold, she was wondering if you could do a walk-in.” The Genius spread his arms and said, “absolutely, I have nothing but real-estate” and gestured at the empty bar.

The service was friendly, prompt, and I’d give it six stars on a five star scale.

Walt gives the new Apple policies and procedures at the Genius Bar two thumbs up!