The Mac App Store debuted earlier this year and developers have had plenty of time to respond by offering their applications for purchase in Apple’s newest marketplace. For many the decision to be part of the Mac App Store was a no-brainer. For 30% of the sales price Apple will handle the representation, payment, and delivery details that go into every successful purchase. Support costs will decrease due to Apple’s centralized distribution system that has no serial numbers to remember or installation instructions to follow. Updates will be pushed out to ensure customers have the latest version with the most up-to-date bug fixes. App discovery is practically guaranteed as the entire Macintosh community looks to one place for future application purchases.

For all of the freedoms the Mac App Store provides there are still plenty of liberties it prohibits. Developers have almost no information about the customers who are buying their apps. Applications must adhere to strict content and development restrictions. The Mac App Store does not support beta testing, tiered pricing, large scale discounts, or upgrades. To honor those traditional rebates, or to release unrestricted software app developers must continue to offer their software from sources outside the Mac App Store.

We are already starting to see the fragmentation of the Macintosh software market. Due to Apple’s restrictions developers have to choose which of their applications can make it to the Mac App Store, and which have to stay home on the company website. Worst still because of the restrictions some developers are releasing applications with limited functionality to the Mac App Store, while still offering the full featured version over traditional download. Tiered pricing, large scale discounts, and low price upgrades are keeping eligible customers out of the App Store by offering them the incentive to purchase from the developer’s website. The promise of a streamlined sales experience through the Mac App Store is lost when developers must maintain two different versions of their applications and a separate payment system for customers that don’t fit into the Mac App Store’s policies. The only way to fight the fragmentation and prevent shopper confusion is to eliminate legacy discounts, offer customers an incentive to upgrade to the App Store, and convince Apple to loosen its policies.

The most obvious incentive developers can offer to get their customers to upgrade to the Mac App Store is to market the next version of their application exclusively through Apple’s marketplace. This strategy works best if the next version is a major release and if it initially offered at a discount to soothe the concerns of existing customers upset over the lack of upgrade pricing. I assume I will encounter this strategy as soon as more developers release the next major version of their applications to the Mac App Store.

Another method of persuading existing customers to move to the Mac App Store is to offer the current version, or a minor update, at a discount price with the promise of a free major update in the near future. This tactic worked on me when I learned that Pixelmator would no longer be offered outside the App Store, and that a new future release would be available for free if I acted now and bought the current version on the Mac App Store at a discount price.

Finally there are even developers offering customers a chance to upgrade to the Mac App Store for free. Irradiated Software, the makers of Cinch, offered me a free refund if I purchased Cinch through the Mac App Store. I have yet to take them up on their offer because doing so would mean they would eat Apple’s 30%, but I appreciate the gesture and see why such an offer would motivate people to move to the Mac App Store.

The Mac App Store is the future of Macintosh software sales, but Developers will continue to offer their own company stores as long as customers insist on upgrade pricing, and Apple insists on restrictive policies. As customers we can fight the fragmentation now by taking developers up on their generous App Store introductory prices, and pushing Apple to allow the legitimate applications currently restricted from the Mac App Store.