Respected software developers are starting to pull back from the Mac App Store. The latest defection is by Postbox, the well-regarded power-users’ alternative to Apple’s Mail. Margo Arment believes that Apple’s policy is jeopardising the whole future of the App Store:
But now, I’ve lost all confidence that the apps I buy in the App Store today will still be there next month or next year. The advantages of buying from the App Store are mostly gone now. My confidence in the App Store, as a customer, has evaporated.
The Mac App Store is in significant danger of becoming an irrelevant, low-traffic flea market where buyers rarely venture for serious purchases. And I bet that’s not what Apple had in mind at all.