Apple treats Mac App Store developers like second-class citizens, Consumers will also be Affected

Compared to their iOS counterparts, Developers in the Mac App Store are making significantly less money and feels like they are treated like second class citizens in the world of Apple. This is bad news for developers and consumers alike.

The App Store and the Mac App Store are the two major software dispensing platforms of Apple and there seems to be an inequality on how each of them is treated. Mac App Store apps make less than the chart topping apps on iOS. Besides that, Mac App Store developers notice that Apple is not giving them the same vital tools that App Store developers enjoy.

TestFlight is one of the most important tools that iOS developers get from Apple that OS X devs don't. This is bad news for both developers and consumers. Apple already announced that a Mac Version of TestFlight is on its way. But until then, there is no way to test apps on iCloud servers. One good thing that Apple did lately is to block reviews on beta OS releases, unless it's for a Mac OS. This means there are no TestFlights, analytics, and block on beta reviews for Mac OS apps. This means Mac App Store Developers don't fully test their software before they are sold to customers according to Furbo. Despite these facts, Apple still takes 30% cut on Mac App Store apps.

According to the Cult of Mac, OS X developer Sam Soffes created an app that became top 8 paid in the US and Number 1 paid in Graphics. Twitter user guessed that his income would reach around $12,460. But his real inoome was only $302, on that day when the app got a total of 94 downloads.

Recent Apple earning show that it is becoming dependent on iPhone profits. Does this mean the company should start giving up on Mac App Store?