[dave256]

I don't work for OmniGroup and I'm not speaking for them.

As a user, I would prefer that OmniGroup does not sell through the Mac App store. Doing so means we all have to live with the hassles of the app store - waiting for Apple to approve an update even if it's a small, but crucial, bug fix update. You may think it means free updates, but that means they need to charge more for the original version and need to move to a separate app when they do make major changes which means a full purchase price and perhaps hassles of moving data from the older app to the new app.

I was irritated by the price of the OmniFocus iPad app (having already bought the Mac and iPhone versions) but I understand they really have no choice. I suspect if they could have, they would have offered a bundle discount for those who bought the other versions. And don't forget there's no try it before you buy it option (unless the developer makes a lite version or does it through in-app purchases) in the iOS store.

Now as a hobbyist developer, I think the Mac App Store is interesting. I have a separate full-time job, but I wrote an iPhone/iPad app (Attendance) during my spare time. It's a niche app mainly used by teachers so I'll never get rich from it, but it does give me a little extra income and the opportunity to provide an app to the community that would never likely be developed by a large company because there's not enough potential income in it.

The Mac App store gives other hobbyist developers the chance to develop niche apps without all the other hassles of selling software online (setting up an e-commerce site, etc.). So I hope and expect we'll see most of the established companies and developers that already sell Mac software continue to sell their software themselves and we'll see a wider range of apps available in the Mac App store from people like me who have a separate full-time job.