With the launch of the Mac App Store recently, Pixelmator, amongst a few other existing Mac apps, went Mac App Store Only. This means that eventually (once the application reaches version 2.0) users that already bought it from their website will stop getting free updates through the app, and will need to ‘transition’ to the App Store version to upgrade to 2.0 and continue getting point-release updates.
Buying it on the App Store currently costs $29 (£17.99 in the UK), due to rise in around two months to $59 according to their Twitter feed, @pixelmator. If you already own the app, having purchased from their site or on disc over the last couple of years, you can’t get an App Store version for free, you have to pay.
Confusing the issue, some apps that people already own and which now have App Store versions show up as ‘Installed’ in the Store, even though the user did not buy the app from the Store. This leads some users to believe that their apps are going to be updated via the Store even though they didn’t buy them there, and, therefore, that it must be possible for people like Pixelmator to provide them with free updates too and that they are choosing not to for financial reasons.
This is due to a misunderstanding between the Store and the app you already own. Here comes the science bit: there’s a bit of code in the application that identifies it to the hard drive and which the Mac App Store searches for when it’s working out if you already have an app installed. Think of it as sort of like a nameplate outside your house. The App Store version of an app should have a different identifier to the same app bought elsewhere – even if they are otherwise identical. Where such apps are showing up as Installed, the developer hasn’t used the correct identifier in their App Store app.
Bottom line – unless you specifically buy an app in the App Store, even ones you already own, it will not update via the App Store. Apple will probably make this clearer soon, or require that developers fix their identifiers.
Back to Pixelmator. Some existing users are claiming they’re being made to pay twice to continue getting the latest version while new users that buy from the App Store are paying once and what’s more, getting it at half price. It does seem that way at first glance, but it’s not the case at all, and while the guys at Pixelmator have got a page up explaining why, a lot of people still don’t get it.
Here’s how Pixelmator isn’t ripping existing users off:
If you already have Pixelmator, you’ll continue to get free updates to your non-App Store version until 2.0. The release of 2.0 would have cost you an upgrade fee (probably around $39 but that’s a guess). Therefore, if the App Store did not exist, you would have had to ‘pay again’ to continue using the latest version of the app anyway.
If you ‘pay again’ now from the App Store, up until around March-ish, 2011, you’ll get the current version of Pixelmator for $29. Yes, you are paying a second time to receive exactly the same version of the app that you currently have and yes, this does seem like you’re being had, but because of the nature of the App Store update process, you’ll get 2.0 for free – remember, you’d have had to buy that upgrade anyway. You’re essentially buying your update to 2.0 several months in advance (no word on when it’s due out yet).
So, if you are an existing user of Pixelmator and don’t expect to want 2.0, don’t buy it again from the App Store and continue to get free updates to 1.x. If, however, you decide you do want to upgrade and you wait until it’s actually released, the only place to get it will be the App Store and it’ll be $59 again.
There’s no hiding the fact that brand new users can currently buy once and get it for $29, a whole $59 less than existing users will have paid, but that’s life, the market changes – look at it like this: they’ve not had the pleasure of using Pixelmator since it was launched, and if they’re not quick they’ll have to pay $59 anyway.
Compare Pixelmator’s approach with what’s happening with Coversutra 2 where the developer has also gone Mac App Store Only, but for her own reasons (which I sympathise with) has had to go back on her similar pledge to existing customers to provide free updates until 3.0 – she’s ceasing support for the non-App Store version, which will not receive the 2.5 update currently on sale on the Store. This means all current users that wish to continue to 3.0 will have to pay again, albeit only $5, but the principle of the promise made is under heavy attack. It’s a bit of a mess all round with the absolute worst examples on internet rage spewing forth all over her blog. Unpleasant for everyone.
Well, I hope Google picks this up and that even a few people giving Pixelmator a bad name on the social network will realise that, if anything, they’re probably saving a bit of cash on their eventual upgrade to 2.0 if they buy now.
UPDATE, January 11th, 2011:
I just want to add that I’ve seen a lot of calls for Pixelmator to give us some kind of development roadmap to version 2.0 so that existing users can gauge for themselves if the update is going to be worth the cash and hence worth buying now while it’s cheaper.
I’d echo those calls. If the Mac App Store didn’t exist I’d say a roadmap would be nice but by no means essential, but given the way this whole thing has had to go down, and given the understanding that Pixelmator seems to me to have about how their users feel, I think they should get something out there pronto that gives at least an idea of some of the major new features planned to be included.
I’d like to think that if they did that, the vast majority of this fuss would die away pretty quickly.
