Purchasing Omnifocus direct v Mac App Store
 

I'm new to Omnifocus (LUVIT) and am about to hit the end of my trial period. I'm able to wait until the Mac App Store goes live if I have to and am trying to decide between purchasing direct versus purchasing via the Mac App Store. (I'm assuming pricing will be identical).

I'm weighing a couple of different factors:

1. Omni gets more of my money if I purchase direct - big plus
2. Licensing may be more generous via the Mac App Store? (five devices if on the same Apple ID, so that might make it easier for my wife to use it, if she ever chooses to). Is that right?

Any other factors that I should be thinking of?

The other significant issue that comes to my mind is upgrade pricing. At least for now, Apple forces all iOS updates to an app to be free so the only options for a developer to charge for an update are to make it an in-app purchase for iOS (which is an extra hassle for a developer) or make a brand new app that users need to pay the full price for if they want the new version. From the news I've read, Apple is not allowing in-app purchases (at least initially) for Mac apps.

So the trade-off is you may pay more to update to new versions to get the flexibility that your wife could use it also (without purchasing a second license). In the long run, that might be a wash if you want to update to new versions.

The other potential downside is that if an app store version gets out that has a signficant bug, you have to wait for OmniGroup to fix it AND for Apple to approve it, while if you purchased it directly from OmniGroup, you can get the update as soon as OmniGroup finishes the update. What I would do if I were OmniGroup is release new versions to direct purchasers first so you can catch those bugs before submitting it to Apple.

Given that OmniGroup is fairly generous with their licensing (letting me run the app on multiple Macs I use), I'm almost certain I'll continue to buy directly from them. I'm willing to pay for a second license if my wife also wanted to use the software (which to this point she hasn't). If Apple allows developers to charge upgrade prices, that might change my mind.

Also worth noting is that purchasers through Omni's online store can run "sneaky peek" builds, allowing them to use new features (or major bugfixes) before they are released and have a more immediate feedback into how new features develop. It isn't impossible for Omni to provide similar software for iOS devices, but Apple makes it difficult by imposing limits on how many individual devices can be used, and a good number of those slots are used up just by Omni employees, so the number of beta testers for something like OmniFocus for iPad was quite small (on the order of 10) compared to OmniFocus for Mac (many 100s for the initial release, I believe).

I'm sure there are a lot of developers and users eagerly awaiting the arrival of some sort of support for "2.0" versions in the App Store! Personally, the Omni apps I've bought have delivered so much value and get so much use that if I had to rebuy the whole thing for the next major version, I would grumble a bit, then reach for my wallet. If the program isn't going to save me the purchase cost over a year or two of use, I shouldn't have bought it in the first place (and there's little point in upgrading). I think that their upgrade policy with apps in their store is very reasonable (you pay roughly 1/3 of the cost of the new version to go from any older version to current), you get a huge pile of new features (and the long tail of additional development and bug fixing until the next major version, which is usually a couple of years), and I hope that Apple eventually provides a way for them to offer a similar deal to App Store customers, because I think there will be a lot of them.

Thanks for the feedback - I think I'll go with buying direct.

I am waiting out the few hours until AppStore.
Maybe I will wait a little longer to see prices go down, unless there is a special pricing with the App Store intro.

I am a Things user, that are trying to switch toe OF on my iPhone, and I am still holding out for the Mac version, as I am on Windows a work. So the Mac version is not life or death for me at the moment.

I also like the fact that buying directly supports the developer. But I also like the single place where I can update all my software (AppStore) in one go.

I fear that everything in time will be moved to the AppStore, and less focus on non-appstore users, but nobody knows what will happen to app-store. Maybe Apple vill allow developers to issue unlimited promo-codes, so we all can get a free "upgrade to AppStore" code ? Software upgrades must come to the AppStore at some point.

I hope buying direct will be cheaper than AppStore. Like $79.99 in AppStore, and $60 here.

So I have the App Store, and I have OmniFocus 1.8.2 already installed, and it's not being reported as "installed" by the app store. Which means I'd have to pay £45 GBP if I wanted to run my updates through the app store.

Correct, the app store does not recognize the already existing installation. There are several places this is being discussed presently. Apparently the only way to get the MAS updating feature is to purchase through the MAS. Some are reporting if the build is exactly the same the MAS may recognize the app as being installed, but that does not mean the auto update feature is available.

A workaround may be that vendors provide trusted existing license holders a coupon/rebate/apple credit so that the end users can re-download from MAS and require them to delete old installations/licenses. Although, that would be costly to the vendors. There should be a way to let MAS recognize the apps as-is; just like the iLife apps.

Well iWork isn't listed in my "Purchased Apps", despite being marked as "installed" in the search results. It all seems a bit stupid really.

Honestly I'm not that bothered about updating via App Store, just thought it worth a mention.

Well the answer is easy if you are an Australian:

1. Direct from Omni: USD$79.95 (= AUD $80.21)

2. Aussie Mac App Store: AUD $99.99 dollars!

Sheesh, talk about overseas price gouging. For the sake of us down here please don't drop direct selling Omni (or any US developer!)

I think many things will happen to the Mac App Store.

If it should be a success with existing users, and a single point of something, it must recognize existing software, and upgrade it. Not sure how Apple will do it. One option would be to have developers submit customer e-mail addresses, so that people who have already bought directly will be recognized. Apple would need to have a cut-off date for this though, to prevent further sales outside of the store. Also gives issues for people who has one address for itunes, and another for direct purchases (like me).

I am still holding off a little, hoping for a price drop / discount. With Aperture being $80 on the AppStore, $199 direct due to different licensing, I hope to see more software (including Omnifocus) drop a little. At $50 I would jump in without hesitation. But we will have to see in the next month or so what happens to pricing.

I also understand why Omnigroup keeps their prices up. Gives prospective buyers the feeling it might be a better product. My sales for an iPhone app also went up with price. $.99/$1.99 sold far fewer copies than $2.99 and $3.99. Omnigroup might test new prices all well, as it is quick to do, and you can quickly see if the price change gains or costs you money.

At this point I prefer to purchase direct for most of my software, but I do have one question I'd like to know...

Which purchase method gives OmniGroup more income?

I imagine they may not want to answer that but I prefer to support the developers where I can.

It seems to me that since they can't completely shut down the direct sales channel they aren't really seeing a full 30% worth of value out of Apple's distribution model.

What I don't get is the kind of licence you get on the App Store. I have family licences for some Omni products, and single licence for others: do the App Store licences, which are priced as single user, give you permission to install on more machines? In this case, the value of family pack has already disappeared...

[QUOTE=vegaz;91435]What I don't get is the kind of licence you get on the App Store. I have family licences for some Omni products, and single licence for others: do the App Store licences, which are priced as single user, give you permission to install on more machines? In this case, the value of family pack has already disappeared...[/QUOTE]
According to the Mac App Store Terms & Conditions:[indent]
You may download and use an application from the Mac App Store ("Mac App Store Product") for personal, non-commercial use on any Apple-branded products running Mac OS X that you own or control ("Mac Product").
[/indent]
Now, does that mean if both you and your spouse want to use it, that you need to buy one for each of you, even if you own or control both computers? Not entirely clear to me, whereas the Omni family pack does cover that situation.

[QUOTE=GrumpyDave;91382]Which purchase method gives OmniGroup more income?[/QUOTE]

Happy to help, but I'm not sure I understand the question - prices are the same in both places, but Apple takes a cut of sales on the Mac App Store. Per sale, we're going to see more revenue from a transaction on our own store.

That doesn't mean that folks should feel guilty if the Mac App Store works better for them, though. As Ken [URL="http://www.omnigroup.com/blog/entry/looking_forward_to_the_mac_app_store/"]mentioned on our blog[/URL], we regard this as a huge improvement over selling boxed software in retail, where you're lucky if you clear 50%!

[QUOTE=vegaz;91435]What I don't get is the kind of licence you get on the App Store. I have family licences for some Omni products, and single licence for others: do the App Store licences, which are priced as single user, give you permission to install on more machines? In this case, the value of family pack has already disappeared...[/QUOTE]

Our understanding of App Store licensing is that one person is licensed on multiple Macs, but our single-customer licenses support that, too.

The Family Packs still offer a better deal than the Mac App Store, where you'd would have to purchase five copies at full price to cover five people, versus paying less than 2x on our store. Does that help?

Hi All,
I'm looking to buy OF and OP. If I buy via the Omni store I get 5% discount for buying 2 products. Would I get similar discount if I bought these 2 products via the Mac App Store?

Nope, have to buy directly from Omni, and they have to be purchased together.

Wee, that licencing thing is a bit confusing, but now it´s all clear to me. I´m still evaluating the software, but in the end of the trial period i´ll sure buy it direct to Omni.