Despite all the benefits of the Mac App Store, you should consider some potential downsides before making your purchase--particularly when the software is also available outside the store. Panic Software, the company behind file-transfer client , sells that app (and others) both and via the . While Panic offers automatic updates for direct software purchasers (via ), such in-app updating isn't permitted for apps in the Mac App Store.

Because of that, when Panic completed work on version 4.1.5 of Transmit, the company didn't make the release available to direct purchasers right away. Rather, it waited for the update's approval by the Mac App Store review team to ensure that the new version was available to all customers simultaneously. Unfortunately, the update sat in Apple's review queue for three weeks, at which point Panic and made the direct download version available.

(maker of MarsEdit, BlackInk, and other apps) is aiming to take a different approach. In , founder Daniel Jalkut outlined a technical approach through which he could make direct-download updates of his company's software available to valid Mac App Store buyers. That method entails its own challenges, which Jalkut highlights--most notably, the need for customers to manage multiple copies of their software separately.

If you prefer getting your hands on the latest and greatest (and bug fixiest) versions of your software as quickly as possible, you may want to avoid the Mac App Store when you can, until more developers embrace Jalkut's model.