My first impression when reading about the announcement was 30% is too high. E-commerce providers such as Fastspring and eSellerate charge a much lower percentage. But the Mac App Store does do a few things that other e-commerce providers do not. The Mac App Store has the potential to reach many more users given that the app will be available on the desktop. Also, the Mac App Store will host the download file. But when I think about it, none of this is new. The only thing new is Apple.

Download sites have existed for years. The PAD specification, which has been available for years, provides a mechanism for software vendors to publish app metadata and be discovered by download sites, and ultimately by customers. And many download sites and e-commerce providers provide hosting of the app. Even Microsoft gave it a try with its web-based app store concept called Microsoft Marketplace, which after many years is no more. So it seems to me, the only thing new and different about the Mac App Store is the review process.

Downloading desktop software from download sites can be risky. You never know if the software you download contains a virus or malware. Attempts such as pre-scanning software for viruses by download sites have been made to instill trust but at the end of the day it’s hard to trust software downloaded from these sites. The Association of Software Professionals have attempted tackling the trust issue for years and has had some success. Still, at the end of the day, gaining customer trust with an online business is challenging.

Personally, I never download software from download sites but I buy a lot of software online. I only buy and download software from the vendor’s own web site, and I’ll only do it when I feel I can trust the vendor. The vendor earns my trust by having a professional online presence, provides contact information with bonus points for having a physical address and phone number, offers a money back guarantee, and most importantly digitally signing the software with a certificate from a trusted CA. If you browse the White Peak Software web site, you’ll see I follow these trust rules myself.

Trust is important when doing business in the online world, and the Mac App Store will help gain customer trust. This should, in turn, help encourage customers who have never bought desktop software online to final do so. The added level of trust and the potential reach to new customers makes the 30% cut to Apple worth while in my opinion. But I still have concerns, from a developer’s point of view, about the Mac App Store.

Many existing, and popular, apps sold today including some from Apple will be rejected from the store based on the list of review rules. But a bigger concern for me is that software vendors wishing to sell through the Mac App Store as well as through their own company web site will be required to maintain two different versions of the same app. Mac App Store apps cannot be self updating, cannot be trial version, and cannot use its own licensing scheme. These three things are key components to selling desktop software on the Internet today. This means a software vendor wishing to sell an app through the Mac App Store as well as through its own company store must have two separate builds of the app, one build without the self updating, trial version, and licensing scheme for the Mac App Store, and one build containing these features for sell through one’s own online store.

Another concern I have with the Mac App Store is the lack of pricing and licensing options. For example, Killink CSV is a business app bought by individuals and large companies alike. By selling directly to the customer, I can offer various pricing and licensing options. I offer a volume discount on purchases. The more single user licenses you buy, the lower the per unit cost. I offer a site license option too, which allows customers to pay a lower price while being able to install the software on a greater number of computers. Then there are coupons. I use coupons to offer discount pricing for a variety of reasons. It’s doubtful the Mac App Store will support coupons in the next 90 days. Then there are affiliates. While sells from affiliates represents only a small portion of my product revenue, affiliates do bring in additional customers. Come to think of it, in a way, one could think of the Mac App Store as an affiliate with review process.

I can’t help but wonder…giving the fact that I have more control over pricing, can offer discounts, and run sales using coupons…will customers become annoyed when they pay one price for my app in the Mac App Store only to find out they could have saved money by buying directly? And how will customer support change with the introduction of the Mac App Store? I’m assuming Apple will not provide any customer information after a purchase to the software vendor. What happens when a customer calls or emails me about re-installing the app on a new computer? I’ll have to first find out how they purchased the app, through the Mac App Store or through my web site. I can see it now, a customer responds with, “I don’t remember.” And what about refunds? Direct purchases can be refunded, Mac App Store purchases, well, “You’ll have to talk with Apple.”

Overall, I can see the Mac App Store leading to confusion and delay.

Oh, and then there is the concern of paid upgrades. Many, if not most, desktop software vendors count on revenue earned by paid upgrades. Paid upgrades are currently not supported in the iOS App Store, so I have to think the same will be true of the Mac App Store.

And let’s not forget the trial versions of the app. A customer can come to my web site and download a free 30-day trial of my software. This gives the user time to evaluate the app before making a purchasing decision. This is not going to happen, at least not initially, with the Mac App Store. Will this lead to users demanding lower prices and if so will software vendors given in starting a new race to the bottom. I certainly hope not. Software vendors need to stay their ground and price their products based on the value of the app.

Will my app be rejected from the Mac App Store if I include in the app description, “Come to my web site to download a free 30-day trial”? And what of cross-platform apps? Say I write a version of Killink CSV for the Mac. According to the list of review rules, I cannot mention the availability of the Windows version in the app’s metadata. If I do, it will be rejected even if this is a key selling point of the app.

I welcome the Mac App Store. It has great potential for tapping into a customer base that otherwise would be un-tappable. But I worry the Mac App Store is not the right place for many desktop app and by not being in the Mac App Store sells will suffer. Only time will tell if the Mac App Store will help software vendors, especially the indie shops like White Peak Software, to succeed.

Code Pilot is by far the favorite based on the number of responses I received. Code Pilot provides easy navigation through your Xcode project. If you are a keyboard junkie like me than you owe it to yourself to try out Code Pilot.

Accessorizer is the second most popular plugin. Accessorizer saves you time by generating boiler plate code for you. For instance, you can use Accessorizer to generate the @property declarations based on a set of ivars. Give the Accessorizer Quick Start Guide (PDF) a read to get a sense of what Accessorizer can do for you.

Mogenerator tied for second most popular plugin. It generates Objective-C code for Core Data models. It works differently than Xcode in that Mogenerator manages two classes per entity, one intended for the machine and the other intended for humans. The Mogenerator sites says, “The machine class can always be overwritten to match the data model, with humans’ work effortlessly preserved.” Perfect for Core Data projects. FYI, Mogenerator is an open source project created and maintained by the most-excellent Jonathan ‘Wolf’ Rentzsch.

Completion Dictionary is a free plugin that enhances Xcode’s own code completion. It allows you to define your own expansion macros. You type a few letters and press the completion shortcut. You instantly have new code added to the file. This plugin reminds me of Delphi Live Templates, which I used religiously back when I did lots of Delphi programming. Oh, and did I mention Completion Dictionary is free?

What other Xcode plugins are out there? Which ones do you find useful? Post a comment if you have a favorite plugin not listed here.

I came up with the name NSiPhoneDevs back at the beginning of the year. I like the name because it’s a good play on words, or rather a good play on prefixes. “NS” is the class name prefix in the foundation framework used by iPhone and Mac developers, but “NS” also stands for North Shore. For those who don’t know, Salem MA is located in Boston’s North Shore area. So NSiPhoneDevs is short for North Shore iPhone Developers.

While I like the name it is not without it’s problems. First, NSiPhoneDevs doesn’t exactly roll off the tongue. I for one am guilty of saying “NSiDevs” on more than one occasion. Another issue with the name is some may believe it excludes iPad developers. This is a stretch I know but I’m sure with the release of the iPad there will be more new developers entering the space who consider themselves iPad developers.

The third, and most important reason for the name change, is the name NSiPhoneDevs excludes a major developer group, the Mac developer. I talked with many Mac developers who said they are not interested in the group because it’s iPhone only, and this includes Mac developers who also do iPhone development. My intentions were never to exclude Mac developers. On the contrary, I want more Mac developers to come especially given that I’m doing more Mac desktop development these days.

The iPhone has attracted a large number of developers who come from other platforms including Windows, .NET, and Java. The reasons for moving from another platform to the iPhone varies by developer. Some are interested in mobile development. Some are interested in joining in on the gold rush. For others, including me, the reason is out of love for Cocoa, Objective-C, Xcode, and OS X.

I switched from Windows and web development to work in the world of Apple because, in my opinion, it provides the best developer experience. Programming on my Mac, whether for the desktop or for the devices, is way more fun for me then in Windows, and I find the developer tools to be far better than anything else I have used in recent years.

So back to the NSHappyHour name change. As someone who is also doing Mac development I did not want others in the Mac developer community to feel excluded. After all, we all use a Mac for programming, we use Xcode as our developer IDE, and we work with many of the same core frameworks.

This point hit home for me at NSConference 2010 where I met a lot of people who share the same passion and love for the developer experience provided by the fruit company. It was at this time I realized NSiPhoneDevs is the wrong name.

The NSiPhoneDevs name is good because it builds off the hype that is the iPhone, but at the same time the name is bad because it does not recognized the development community as a whole. At the end of the day we all work with pretty much the same tools and we can learn a lot from one another whether you are writing iPhone/iPad only apps, desktop only apps, or doing all of the above.

So the group is now called NSHappyHour. After all, that’s what the group is really about. Getting together with fellow Cocoa developers to talk shop over a few beers. So if you are writing code and producing apps for the iPhone, iPad and or Mac then NSHappyHour is the perfect gathering for you to socialize, learn, and network while enjoying tasty adult beverages.

For more information about NSHappyHour, visit http://nshappyhour.org.

The sense of community combined with the unique structure of the conference made for a wonderful time. NSConference is different from other developer related conferences in that there are not multiple tracks during the day. Instead all the attendees, called delegates at NSConference, sit in the same room and listen to the same talks. The other difference is the 30 minute break between sessions. This combination makes for a great conference going experience.

Why does the combination work so well? As a delegate I didn’t have to run from room to room to hear different talks and to find a new seat. I’m able to leave my gear in one spot for the entire day, and because I don’t have to run room to room I can spend more time meeting and talking with other delegates. This is were the 30 minute breaks really help out.

At other conferences my chats between sessions are never long enough to really get to know other developers. The 30 minute breaks at NSConference gives you plenty of time to chat with folks you already know and to meet new ones. And because of this I actually met more people at NSConference then I have at the last 3 conferences I have attended.

And meeting other iPhone and Mac developers has never been so easy. I arrived in Atlanta late Saturday afternoon not knowing a single person. Within an hour and a half I was talking with other delegates, having beers, and sharing stories. I feel like I met close to 90 percent of all the delegates by the end of the conference, and I definitely formed new friendships with a good number of those that I met. As someone who works from home, making these connections and feeling apart of a community is very important to me. And this aspect alone makes attending NSConference worth well.

I haven’t said much about the session talks yet. And yes, the talks were great. I found every topic useful and informative. The speakers really know their stuff and I learned tons. If you are seeking knowledge in Mac and iPhone development than there is no better independent developer conference. But more important to me were the connections I made with others in the iPhone and Mac development community. And this includes getting to know the speakers as well.

There are many more good things I can say about NSConference. For instance, the party Monday night was a blast. Eating at the Silver Skillet each morning was a great way to start the day. Dinner and drinks each night with the delegates was so much fun. The only negative part of the conference for me were the lunches, though many folks told me the lunches were better than those offered at WWDC.

Lunches aside, NSConference is a must attend conference for all iPhone and Mac developers.