Apple's Mac App Store Transforming Desktop Software, Slowly But Surely

Small, independent software developers have along had a huge impact on the vibrancy of IT platforms.  While corporations depend on a small number of big packages like SAP or Microsoft Office, they also rely on thousands of smaller, specialized applications.

Many are written as one-offs and struggle for distribution and recognition, yet to a small base of customers, these small but specialized applications are essential to running their business.  That's as true for individuals in the home as it is for corporations.

The App Store has done an amazing job for the iPhone of making app discovery and purchase much easier.  The iPhone and iPad now have thriving ecosystems of small developers (1-3 people) who might not have had much of a chance in the past.  Mostly, they're not getting rich, but they are earning a living and contributing enormously to the vibrancy of the platform.

The result: lots of small, well-done applications that sell from $1-5 and a few specialized ones that sell for much more.  And the same phenomenon is popping up in the Mac App Store.  Right now, many of these are apps that already existed, but now they're more accessible.

It's hard to see how such a small change (going from Internet distribution to the App store) can make such a big difference, but it seems that Apple has cracked the code on getting people to make smaller app purchases.  The rate of paid purchases is much higher in Apple's App Store than it is elsewhere and that's attracting developers to a platform that's nowhere near as large as Windows.

Simple solution discovery and purchase is clearly becoming one of the key differentiators in the competitive battle of the ecosystems.  Having owned an iPhone, iPad, Mac, Windows Machine, Android device and Blackberry, I can say that I buy far more on the Apple platforms that anywhere else.

Apple's Mac App Store is modeled on the iPhone one, and makes buying amazingly easy.