Life outside the Mac App Store

I'll be the first to admit that the App Store and more specifically the Mac App Store has been great for us, our business has benefitted tremendously from it. However it hasn't all been plain sailing. Late last year, I talked about some of the problems we've been facing, specifically sustainability. Today I'd like to talk about some of the changes we're making outside of the Mac App Store.

When the Mac App Store first launched we were wholeheartedly behind it, we were convinced that this would be the way the majority of apps on the Mac would eventually be purchased. We thought it'd happen quickly so we went Mac App Store-only with most of our apps, and we thought that trying to sell new apps outside of the store would be a waste of time. It turns out we were wrong.

It’s been 4 years and throughout all this time we've continued to sell RapidWeaver in and out of the Mac App Store. I expected direct sales to trail off as the years went on. I kept thinking it was about to happen… but it never did. In fact, most days the direct version of RapidWeaver continues to outsell the Mac App Store version.

It seems the Mac App Store is just another sales channel, and by not selling directly we've potentially hindered our growth as a company. Selling outside of the Mac App Store has its own set of issues: maintaining an online store, app updates, serial number schemes, the list goes on. Even after all that, it still appears to be worth the extra time and effort.

Unfortunately apps sold outside of the Mac App Store simply can’t offer iCloud support. However not all customers want or need iCloud, and with this in mind we're making another one of our apps available outside of the Mac App Store.

Starting today, you can buy Ember for Mac from our online store.

Our goal is to have all three of our Mac apps available to purchase directly from both the Realmac Store and via the Mac App Store, giving you the choice to buy them from wherever you like best.

If you have any thoughts or questions about this new way to buy Ember, please feel free to get in touch.