>Three years ago, a hobbyist could make an app in their free time, put it out there for cheap or free, and see what happened. If the app was any good, what would happen could easily be that they made a livable income off of their creation.
The huge customer base with credit card details stored already, one-click away from a purchase and with such low piracy rates as those the App Store offers was UNHEARD of before it.
And that's for the Mac App Store: for iPhone/iPad apps the market didn't even exist _at all_.
There's a reason developers jumped all over the App Stores. "Tooth pulling process"? You should have tried making a living off of shareware in the old times.
Also (2), why pay $99/year? You don't have to sign to the developer program to release stuff on your own. XCode can be downloaded for free IIRC, and there are tons of other IDEs you can use.
And (3), security preferences? Just right click "Open" and allow the app to run the first time. I really doubt "This looks sketchy to users" of that the "hobbyist is suspected of being a criminal".
The huge customer base with credit card details stored already, one-click away from a purchase and with such low piracy rates as those the App Store offers was UNHEARD of before it.
And that's for the Mac App Store: for iPhone/iPad apps the market didn't even exist _at all_.
There's a reason developers jumped all over the App Stores. "Tooth pulling process"? You should have tried making a living off of shareware in the old times.
Also (2), why pay $99/year? You don't have to sign to the developer program to release stuff on your own. XCode can be downloaded for free IIRC, and there are tons of other IDEs you can use.
And (3), security preferences? Just right click "Open" and allow the app to run the first time. I really doubt "This looks sketchy to users" of that the "hobbyist is suspected of being a criminal".