When rapid change happens, it’s almost to be expected that a technical battleground develops. Some Mac devs try to push the notion that “ported iOS” apps are somehow inferior to native Mac apps (pardon, I meant to say “software”). But from a developer perspective, this is a very questionable claim. We are not talking about a cross-platform approach with ugly design elements, a meta compiler and three daisy-chained interpreters to get these apps to run. This is as native and as natural as it can get and Apple did a great job paving the way.

The Mac App Store cannot come soon enough. Since Apple made the announcement back in November 2010, I have refrained from purchasing apps I feel might make their way into the store. The promise of a system-wide install and update tool (à la MacUpdate) is something many, including myself, have become accustomed to in iOS. I’m sure the devs are betting on the App Store economy, and I am equally sure the customers are too.