August 5, 2018
Winter is Coming
Apple Axes App Store Affiliate Program
Affiliate Program App Store Updates
Thank you for participating in the affiliate program for apps. With the launch of the new App Store on both iOS and macOS and their increased methods of app discovery, we will be removing apps from the affiliate program. Starting on October 1st, 2018, commissions for iOS and Mac apps and in-app content will be removed from the program. All other content types (music, movies, books, and TV) remain in the affiliate program.
The affiliate program is not a revenue stream for me. That was the main reason for instituting the Patreon link. I am shy about asking for support and find that the Patreon effort is not going well either. I figure that if the content is compelling and useful enough, people will support it. If it is not? My writing needs to improve.
I don't know the economic realities behind the decision by Apple. Those are irrelevant to me. I understand that this decision is going to make it difficult for some sites which are dependent on the affiliate program income to continue and that is not a desirable outcome.
What is the process?
Apple provides the store. Developers of all sizes provide the software. Apple features some of the products. Third party sites feature reviews and write-ups on the products along with an affiliate link. Customers get their information from a mix of Apple features, site write-ups and word of mouth to buy the software. Apple makes money of each sale. The developers get a cut. The sites with affiliate links that customers use to buy the product get a share.
No one but Apple controls what they feature. As a developer you can't manage that. If Apple features you, you have a good week. If they don't you can't do anything about it. The only thing you can do as a developer is buy advertising for your product, sponsor sites, and get the web sites to cover your product. Buying advertising is available to only a small segment of developers: the large ones. Small developers are always struggling to get their products noticed.
Consequence of This Decision
When you take away the affiliate income for sites, what happens?
- The sites which depended on this income stream either fold or find a different income stream.
- The availability of information on software carried by the App Stores decreases. Or in other words, it becomes more and more difficult for consumers to hear about new products. And for the developer, there are now smaller number of outlets which cover their products.
Apple believes that with their improved App Stores, app discoverability is going to negate the effects of this decision.
I think that is horse manure.
They have made the process difficult as it is. Getting rid of the App Store from the iTunes app on macOS has already made it difficult for me to find new apps on the iOS App Store. I hate going to the App Store on my iOS devices. But hey, this is a single data point and I might be a weirdo. I know the macOS App Store intimately and discoverability is a joke there.
The problem is that there are various kinds of software products:
- Mass market software. Word Processors, Spreadsheets, Markdown based text editors, window managers are all good examples of mass market software. Apple does an adequate job of highlighting these. They have features on them and they group them together and they get some exposure. Not all of them. Only some of them. I will explain this in a later section.
- Niche market software. There are products which get developed for small market niches. Statistics software like Wizard, code snippet collectors like SnippetsLab and presentation software like Slidium - Markdown Presentations, are all examples of software directed towards small market niches. They get little or no love from Apple.
- Games. I am not a gamer so I am going to not comment on that marketplace.
Apple, focused on revenue, is always going to highlight mass market software. That is what makes the most money or potentially has the ability to make the most money. They will highlight the market leaders in each category. So Ulysses will always get highlighted while an able competitor like MWeb will get no love. The products which challenge the market leaders are going to find the field stacked against them in the Apple eco-system, to add to the problems they already have.
This is an anti-consumer move as much as an anti-developer move. Of course it has the added feature of being an anti-third-party-sites move.
Winter is Coming
Decisions don't happen in a vacuum. They are not perceived in a vacuum either. They are all context based. Let's look at the context. Apple is now the first trillion dollar company. In that context, lets highlight a few data points:
- The Mac Pro is an unqualified disaster that hasn't been replaced.
- The TouchBar? Have you met anyone who is in love with that addition?
- The MacBook Pro keyboard which gets confused with a wee bit of dust?
- Mojave? Dark mode is the highlight of that innovation. Really?
What has the company been doing?
- Incremental updates of iPhone and iPad.
- New iMac Pros which are great but priced atrociously.
- HomePod and AirPods. I am in love with the HomePod. Don't have the AirPods.
- Beats headphones.
- Apple Watch.
In both hardware and software, Apple's performance is underwhelming. They are coasting in the macOS space. They are improving the iOS devices.
The signs are not good. The reason why Apple exists is because when they were underperforming against Microsoft and Intel, consumers of their Macintoshes rallied around the platform for no damn reason other than loyalty and kept the company afloat. That loyalty derived from being a small group and the Apple myths. The myths and the size of the group reinforced each other to allow for the rebirth of Apple. It is difficult to maintain that when you are the largest company in the world. To get that kind of loyalty at this stage you have to show me a vision. Some character which is not shared by the marketplace. Apple's success is due to the fact that they are executing better than the marketplace. That is not difficult to do when your competitor is Samsung with their copy machines.
The signs are not good. This is a company which lacks vision. It lacks character. It lacks focus.
Can you answer the following questions?
- Where is Apple taking the macOS devices? What is the next iteration? The iMac design is 6 years old. The Mac mini design is 8 years old. Mac Pro is 4 years old.
- Where is Apple taking the iPhone?
- Where is Apple taking the iPad?
- Why is Apple making television shows?
The company is making inroads into the services business. That is new. So iCloud is going to be usable? There will be reliable sync? Oh no, you mean that Apple is going to become a cable company. We all love those. I am going to turn off my sarcasm mode now.
Apple's track record is great for Wall Street and their shareholders but it is not that impressive for customers. In fact, the ethos of the company, which was superior products at a higher than usual price, is not a statement which holds true anymore. Look at the iMacs and you will realize that they are not executing well on that score.
What is the vision? On privacy, they are better than Google or Facebook. That is the only positive I can come up with.
Where is the character? It is difficult to have a well-defined character when you are the market leader (by revenue and size). Specially when your character over the years has been defined as the "other." You can't sell me the notion that I am special because I use your product. You have to be special. How are they doing on that score?
Focus? They are making TV shows.
This affiliate program decision hurts the community of Apple, its developers, the media outlets which support the community, and its customers.
As you can tell, I am depressed about Apple.
macosxguru at the gmail thingie
Other reactions to the Affiliate Program decision:
Apple’s Termination of App Store Affiliate Payments Is Unnecessary, Mean-Spirited, and Harmful - TidBITS
Apple Overestimates Its App Store Search
Apple changes iTunes affiliate program – chrisrosser.net
Apple Removing iOS and Mac Apps from Affiliate Program – 512 Pixels
Apple Announces Apps and In-App Purchases Will Be Removed from its Affiliate Program October 1st – MacStories
Apple removes apps from their Affiliate Program – ldstephens
Apple removes apps and in-app purchases from its iTunes affiliate program
Leverage
Joe's argument boils down to:
Maybe that’s cold, but business ain’t ever warm and fuzzy.
I guess it is high time that Apple customers realized that the days of the two guys in a garage making Macintoshes are long gone. Apple is just another business today. Like Walmart.
App Store
Apple
July 30, 2018
Noto Is a Free, Quick and Efficient Text Editor
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Product: Noto
Price: Free
Edit
Noto is a free text editor available on macOS. It is not as full-featured as some of the other alternatives like CotEditor or the free version of BBEdit. What it lacks in features, Noto makes up in speed.
If you are a person who lives in text files, you must have a dedicated text editor which you use. This product is not for you. You have time and energy invested in learning the inner workings of your text editor and there is no reason for you to use a simple solution like Noto. On the other hand, if you are not wedded to text files and are looking for a simple text editor which will let you deal with the occasional text file, Noto should fit your needs.
Noto Has Few Features
- Noto has extensive encoding support. That means Noto can support files containing text and characters from many different scripts and encodings. It is equally comfortable with Japanese characters and mathematical symbols, or Windows, macOS, and Unix text files.
- Noto does "smart multi-selection." Hold down the ⌘ key and highlight multiple selections of text. You can now indent or un-indent the selected text with spaces or tabs.
- Noto shows invisible characters. View>Show Invisible Characters, shows you the gremlins hidden in your text files. Useful if you are copying text from other programs into Noto.
- Noto supports Versioning. You can revert back to a previous version of your document through Noto's support for the macOS feature of Versions.
- Noto has themes. You can get some additional themes from here. You can also make your own with instructions from here.
Noto Is Minimal in Its Preferences
Editor Preferences
You get to choose your own font.
Noto lets you assign spaces instead of tabs. You get to specify number of spaces for each tab.
Sys Pref
Noto supports the macOS features of turning two spaces into a period and it capitalizes the first letter of each new sentence if you have that selected in System Preferences>Keyboard>Text preference pane. In case you have internalized this "bad typing behavior" (I am guilty of this), this is a great feature.
Themes
Noto supports themes and the implementation though minimal is effective and user-customizable.
Conclusion
Noto is competent software. If you are looking for a simple text editor, it fits the bill. I love it. It is quick and easy and a pleasure to use.
Noto is recommended heartily.
macosxguru at the gmail thingie
macOS
Text Editor
Noto
July 24, 2018
Softorino YouTube Converter 2 Converts Video From Popular Sources
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Product: YouTube Converter 2 | Softorino
Price: $19.99
I like single task utilities. These are the utilities which set out to perform a single task and do it well. YouTube Converter 2 from Softorino is one of those utilities.
Video Sources
It is misnamed. The most popular task it performs is converting YouTube videos for your macOS and iOS devices, but it converts video from more than sixty other popular sources. It downloads videos, music and ringtones from these sources and makes them available to you on the computer or on your iOS devices.
Video Conversion
YouTube Converter 2 Interface
YouTube Converter 2 converts the source video into a choice of different resolutions for you. 2160p to 360p is supported and you get to just click a few buttons and get the video you want on any device you want.
Conversion to Audio
Audio
You can take any video and convert it into audio. A choice of formats is available to you on the conversion. MP3, AAC are useful formats for this.
Conversion to Ringtones
Ringtones
This is a much desired feature. You can convert a video into Ringtones for your iPhone, transfer it to the iPhone and use it for your incoming phone calls. All by clicking a few buttons. The length of the ringtone can be adjusted to be the usual 30 second ringtone.
Conclusion
YouTube Converter 2 is an utility which does what it is supposed to in an intuitive and efficient manner. If you need to download videos or download videos converted to audio or ringtones this is a product which performs those tasks efficiently.
I am happy with the product. It is recommended heartily.
A license was provided by the developer for review.
macosxguru at the gmail thingie
Other Reviews of the Product:
Softorino YouTube Converter 2 review: The most convenient way to download website videos and transfer them to iOS devices | Macworld
Softorino YouTube Converter 2 Makes Downloading Streaming Video Effortless – MacStories
YouTube
Ringtones
Video
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