Reprinted from TidBITS#1080/13-Jun-2011 with permission.
Copyright (C) 2011, TidBITS. All rights reserved.
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Amazon Takes Aim at the Mac App Store
-------------------------------------
  by Adam C. Engst <ace@tidbits.com>
  article link: <http://tidbits.com/article/12202>
  10 comments

  Whoa! Amazon has unexpectedly unveiled the Mac Downloads Store, 
  offering a small selection of Macintosh software and games that are 
  presumably available in boxed form from Amazon as well. Apart from 
  packages from a few big name developers, like Microsoft, Adobe, and 
  Intuit, as of this writing most of the 200 software packages seem to 
  be language learning courses and training software. Of the rest, 51 
  are games.

<http://www.amazon.com/gp/feature.html?ie=UTF8&docId=1000691231#>

  In the version of this article initially published on the Web, I 
  wondered why independent Mac developers who don’t generally sell 
  through physical channels weren’t included. It turns out that 
  Amazon did approach a number of well-known developers, but either 
  Amazon wasn’t sufficiently persuasive or the developers felt that 
  the opportunity wasn’t sufficiently lucrative for the effort 
  involved, and none of those I’ve heard from jumped at the chance.

  I suspect that, as they find the time to deal with another channel, 
  many Mac developers will start selling through Amazon’s Mac 
  Downloads Store as well. Although merely being listed in Amazon is 
  no guarantee of sales, the main downside is working with yet another 
  reseller (but that can be non-trivial for a small developer). On the 
  positive end, Amazon presumably won’t exercise the same level of 
  approval that Apple requires for inclusion in the Mac App Store, 
  thus enabling developers to sell software through Amazon that Apple 
  won’t allow.

  One area where Amazon doesn’t appear to be trying to compete with 
  the Mac App Store is in integration. Although purchases remain 
  accessible for later download from Amazon, there’s currently no 
  indication that Amazon has any way (short of email) of notifying 
  customers of updates, and any updates made available for download 
  would require manual downloading and installation. In its FAQ, 
  Amazon says:
      
      Some games and software will automatically look for patches 
      and updates for you. For other products which do not 
      automatically update, you may need to find updates and patches 
      directly on the product manufacturer’s website.

  Another comment in the FAQ is somewhat worrying, although no 
  additional details are provided. With respect to DRM, Amazon says:
      
      DRM software is part of your game or software download. 
      Please refer to the End User License Agreement (EULA) for your 
      software for more information.

  It’s impossible to draw conclusions about which store might prove 
  cheaper in the long run. Right now, there are relatively few 
  products that exist in both the Mac Downloads Store and the Mac App 
  Store; I found MacFreelance and Logo Design Studio Pro from Macware. 
  Both were cheaper than from Macware’s own Web site, but a sale on 
  the Mac App Store made MacFreelance cheaper there, whereas a $5 
  discount on Logo Design Studio Pro made it cheaper on the Mac 
  Downloads Store.

<http://www.macwareinc.com/>

  At the moment, the Amazon Mac Downloads Store isn’t nearly as 
  impressive as the Mac App Store, but Amazon has a great deal of 
  retailing experience and has shown the patience necessary to build 
  up a market. In a year or so, the Mac Downloads Store could be a 
  credible way to find and purchase a wide variety of Mac software.


**Usage** -- To see what using Amazon’s Mac Downloads Store is like, 
  I downloaded an inexpensive game — Airport Mania: First Flight. 
  (When the store first launched, this title was free.)

<http://www.amazon.com/Airport-Mania-First-Flight-Download/dp/B004YF1FG0/>

  Once you purchase an application, you’re given the option of 
  downloading it right away, or retrieving it later from Amazon’s 
  Your Games and Software Library. If the software requires product 
  activation keys, you’ll get them from Your Games and Software 
  Library as well.

<http://tidbits.com/resources/2011-05/Amazon-download1.png>

  Click Start Download to display another Web page with instructions. 
  These are a bit sketchy, but in essence, what Amazon is doing is 
  having you retrieve the Amazon Software Downloader application, 
  stored on a disk image. You don’t need to copy the Amazon Software 
  Downloader to your hard disk; just launch it from the disk image to 
  continue the download process.

<http://tidbits.com/resources/2011-05/Amazon-download2.png>
<http://tidbits.com/resources/2011-05/Amazon-download3.png>

  The Amazon Software Downloader then proceeds to retrieve your 
  purchase, storing it in your Downloads folder, and presenting you 
  with an Install button when it’s done. You might expect it to 
  install the app in your Applications folder, but you’d be wrong; 
  clicking Install instead opens the disk image for your purchase. In 
  the case of Airport Mania, installation was merely a matter of 
  drag-and-drop, but I suspect other applications will use installers.

<http://tidbits.com/resources/2011-05/Amazon-download4.png>
<http://tidbits.com/resources/2011-05/Amazon-download5.png>
<http://tidbits.com/resources/2011-05/Amazon-download6.png>

  In the end, although there were a lot of separate steps — the Mac 
  Downloads Store was nowhere near as simple as using the Mac App 
  Store — none of them were particularly difficult for anyone who 
  has purchased downloadable software before. 


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