Mac App Store Notes: Recognizing Previously-Installed Apps, Pricing Discounts

With the Mac App Store having gone live earlier today, users have now had a chance to play around with the store's features and offerings. And while the Mac App Store is fairly straightforward and very reminiscent of the iOS App Store, there are a few items of note that are worth mentioning.

Gizmodo offers a brief walkthrough of the Mac App Store purchasing process and some of the accompanying changes in Mac OS X 10.6.6, which include the use of existing iTunes Store accounts (and thus any corresponding gift card balances) for Mac App Store purchases and the previously-noted unknown filetype search integration in Mac OS X. Other interesting notes:

- Applications installed outside the Mac App Store: The Mac App Store automatically recognizes when a user already has Apple apps such as iLife '11 and iWork '09 installed on his or her system, showing an "installed" note in place of the purchase button in the store. The same does not appear to be true for third-party applications, however, as our previously-installed copy of TextWrangler was not picked up by the Mac App Store.

122849 apple mac app store apps

- Discounts on Apple software: The three components of Apple's iWork productivity suite are offered individually through the Mac App Store for $19.99 apiece, for a total of $59.97. In addition to offering the flexibility of purchasing only select portions of the iWork suite, the overall Mac App Store price is considerably below Apple's $79.00 price for iWork on physical media. In addition, Mac App Store purchases can be used on multiple machines controlled by the user, making the Mac App Store version more like the $99 iWork family pack.

Even bigger discounts can be had on a couple of other Apple software products. Most notably, Apple is offering Aperture 3 through the Mac App Store for only $79.99, a tremendous savings off of the $199 price for the version shipping on physical media. Apple is also offering its Apple Remote Desktop software through the Mac App Store for $79.99, a format that might be more appealing to some consumers than the company's standard offerings of a 10-system license for $299 or an unlimited license for $499.

iLife '11, however, is a slightly different story which sees the individual iPhoto, iMovie, and GarageBand components priced at $14.99 in the Mac App Store, for a total of $44.97. Apple sells iLife '11 on physical media for $49.00, a package that also includes iWeb and iDVD. But considering that all new Macs ship with the full iLife suite and that iWeb and iDVD were not updated with iLife '11, most users should already be essentially up-to-date on those applications.

Update: Users are reporting varying levels of success with the Mac App Store recognizing previously-installed third-party software as already being on their systems, with applications such as Coda, Transmit, and Things being recognized. Other users are also noting difficulties with the Mac App Store picking up iWork as being installed. One potential solution has been to log out and close the Mac App Store application, or even logging out of the user's Mac OS X account entirely.

Popular Stories

reset password request iphone

Warning: Apple Users Targeted in Phishing Attack Involving Rapid Password Reset Requests

Tuesday March 26, 2024 4:34 pm PDT by
Phishing attacks taking advantage of Apple's password reset feature have become increasingly common, according to a report from KrebsOnSecurity. Multiple Apple users have been targeted in an attack that bombards them with an endless stream of notifications or multi-factor authentication (MFA) messages in an attempt to cause panic so they'll respond favorably to social engineering. An...
maxresdefault

Apple to Launch New iPad Pro and iPad Air Models in May

Thursday March 28, 2024 11:07 am PDT by
Apple will introduce new iPad Pro and iPad Air models in early May, according to Bloomberg's Mark Gurman. Gurman previously suggested the new iPads would come out in March, and then April, but the timeline has been pushed back once again. Subscribe to the MacRumors YouTube channel for more videos. Apple is working on updates to both the iPad Pro and iPad Air models. The iPad Pro models will...
Generic iOS 18 Feature Purple

iOS 18: What to Expect From 'Biggest' Update in iPhone's History

Wednesday March 27, 2024 11:10 am PDT by
At least some Apple software engineers continue to believe that iOS 18 will be the "biggest" update in the iPhone's history, according to Bloomberg's Mark Gurman. Below, we recap rumored features and changes for the iPhone. "The iOS 18 update is expected to be the most ambitious overhaul of the iPhone's software in its history, according to people working on the upgrade," wrote Gurman, in a r...
maxresdefault

Apple Announces WWDC 2024 Event for June 10 to 14

Tuesday March 26, 2024 10:02 am PDT by
Apple today announced that its 35th annual Worldwide Developers Conference is set to take place from Monday, June 10 to Friday, June 14. As with WWDC events since 2020, WWDC 2024 will be an online event that is open to all developers at no cost. Subscribe to the MacRumors YouTube channel for more videos. WWDC 2024 will include online sessions and labs so that developers can learn about new...
apple maps 3d feature

Apple Maps May Gain Custom Routes With iOS 18

Tuesday March 26, 2024 3:10 pm PDT by
Apple may be planning to add support for "custom routes" in Apple Maps in iOS 18, according to code reviewed by MacRumors. Apple Maps does not currently offer a way to input self-selected routes, with Maps users limited to Apple's pre-selected options, but that may change in iOS 18. Apple has pushed an iOS 18 file to its maps backend labeled "CustomRouteCreation." While not much is revealed...
General iOS 17 Feature Orange Purple

Apple Releases Revised Versions of iOS 17.4.1 and iPadOS 17.4.1 With Updated Build Number

Wednesday March 27, 2024 5:59 am PDT by
Apple on late Tuesday released revised versions of iOS 17.4.1 and iPadOS 17.4.1 with an updated build number of 21E237, according to MacRumors contributor Aaron Perris. The updates previously had a build number of 21E236. The revised updates are available for all iPhone and iPad models that are compatible with iOS 17 and iPadOS 17, but they can only be installed via the Finder app on macOS...
applephilschiller

Apple's Phil Schiller Works 80 Hours a Week Overseeing App Store

Wednesday March 27, 2024 2:03 pm PDT by
With the App Store and app ecosystem undergoing major changes in the European Union, The Wall Street Journal today shared a profile on App Store chief Phil Schiller, who is responsible for the App Store. Though Schiller transitioned from marketing chief to "Apple Fellow" in 2020 to take a step back from Apple and spend more time on personal projects and friends, he is reportedly working...