Billings 3 Now Available on the Mac App Store.

Product Updates / January 6, 2011 / Alykhan Jetha

I’m sure you’ve all heard that the Mac App Store is available today with an update to Mac OS X 10.6.6.

I’m quite excited by the prospects of the Mac App Store because it eliminates two significant friction points for new Mac users (regardless of the developer):

  • Download and installation. Currently there is no consistent method for this and a new user must navigate the different ways. Sometimes it can be daunting.
  • Purchasing. Once again, each developer has a slightly different store.

So in theory, we should see many new customers regardless of the exposure issue. I still think developers will have to continue marketing efforts in order to drive awareness. The Mac App Store won’t solve that problem once it gets populated and the buzz dies down (as it is with the current iOS App Store).

We’ve started our Mac App Store adventure with Billings 3. The current rules prevent us from submitting our other apps: Daylite and Billings Pro. Hopefully the rules will be relaxed a bit in the future.

So what does this mean for existing Billings 3 users?

  • If you’ve purchased directly from us or via a retail location (you received a physical box), then you continue to update Billings 3 via our site.
  • If you’ve purchased Billings 3 via the Mac App Store, then you update using the Mac App Store only.

The licensing mechanism is different and not compatible thus you cannot swap between one another. We are hoping to find a way to unify this (Apple has done it for their apps, so there must be a way. Hopefully they will share it).

We will maintain feature parity between Billings from the Mac App Store and Billings from our site (other than this initial release) until further notice.

So let’s see how this Mac App Store changes the desktop software landscape in the coming months and years.

Until next time…
AJ

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