Apple is Now Accepting Mac App Store Submissions from Developers
Apple just sent an email out to developers noting that they can begin submitting applications for review. Apple noted at the last press conference that they planned to open the Mac App Store within 90-days and that developers …
Context & Ripple Effects
The submission window Apple just opened is the operational follow-through on the Mac App Store unveiled at October's Back to the Mac event, where the company committed to launching within 90 days. The groundwork was laid back in March, when the Mac Developer license fell to $99/year, signaling that Apple intended to recruit the same long tail of small developers that powers its iOS storefront.
For developers, this is the moment the Mac stops being an open distribution platform by default: submitting to review becomes the price of shelf space in what Apple itself called a Really Big Deal for the platform.
First-order effects
- Developers can now put Mac applications into Apple's review queue, meaning approval pipelines — and any rejections — begin months before the store actually opens.
- Apple gains a stocked catalog ahead of launch day, since the 90-day commitment made at the October press conference leaves little slack for a late start on reviews.
Second-order effects
- Mac software publishers who distribute directly today must decide whether to accept Apple's revenue split and review rules or compete against a default storefront preinstalled on every new Mac.
- The iOS developer ecosystem gets a second storefront to port to, letting studios amortize existing apps across both platforms with minimal new engineering.
Third-order effects
- If the pattern holds, the Mac converges on the iOS distribution model — curated, reviewed, centrally billed — turning 'Governed Openness' from an iPhone policy into Apple's default across product lines, with direct-download software relegated to the niche.
The trend: Apple is extending its iPhone-era App Store model of curated, reviewed distribution to the Mac, making the storefront rather than the open web the primary channel for desktop software.