Issue 020: 2016-12-08
Tech Pick
The app economy is an evolving beast. In a recent episode of the Release Notes Charles and Joe interview Macpaw’s founder about a new consumer/developer service called Setapp. It’s a subscription-based approach to Mac applications. The idea is that as a consumer you pay $9.99 per month, and you have access to high-quality Mac applications without any restrictions (i.e. no ‘lite’ versions). Developers get paid on a recurring basis (based on app usage) while consumers get a decent value for their money without the “why does this app have a subscription now?” question popping up into their minds.
I’ve subscribed to the beta program (which is free until March 2017), and I have to say that it is a well-executed service. The usage experience is almost identical to the Mac app store with a clean and clear interface. Macpaw’s goal is to have 300 quality applications (I’m not sure of their exact definition of ‘quality’). Right now, the beta contains around 50 apps and right off the bat I’ve installed iStat Menus, Clean My Mac 3, and Ulysses.
Is this a future trend that Apple will adopt across its App stores? Does this approach provide a sustainable living for Indie developers? Maybe and then again maybe not. Some interesting viewpoints:
- A perspective from Marked 2 developer – Brett Terpstra about Setapp (Marked 2 is a great app that I use every day and Brett is an awesome person and developer)
- A week after the above mentioned Release Notes episode, Joe and Charles end up taking opposite positions on Setapp’s benefits to developers in the appropriately named episode: ‘I have a romance with making money’.
Media Pick
A short and excellent episode from the Imaginary Worlds podcast about The Man in the High Castle. It is a great Amazon produced series based on Phillip K. Dick’s book. In this episode, Eric Molinsky speaks to the producers of the show on their production approach and intent.
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PS: Due to the upcoming holidays – I will not be publishing any issues until middle/end of January 2017. I wish you a great holiday season.
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