Wang, on the other hand, is going the coupon route. Like its iOS equivalent, the Mac App Store allows developers to hand out 50 free-app coupons for each version of their app. Wang asked interested customers to e-mail her to verify they bought Hibari outside the Mac App Store. She will then supply them one of her allotted coupons (thus avoiding the 30 percent hit from the refund and re-purchase process, due to Apple's cut). Wang also said that if she has to, she'll create a waiting list for handing out coupons with the next version update.

Tyler Bunnell, co-owner and developer at Mizage, says that his company has switched about 500 existing Divvy licenses into the Mac App Store. After Apple's 30-percent take, each swap of a full-price license costs Mizage about $4.20. However, since many people bought Divvy on some sort of sale or promotion, Bunnell calculates the average cost per switch is closer to $3.75. Mizage first e-mailed customers on January 28 and received an initial flood of responses that took advantage of its offer. Now, Bunnell says requests have "pretty much died down," and the company sees maybe one or two each day.

A few other developers have also offered a window of opportunity for customers who wish to transition into the Mac App Store. , for example, has enacted a "transitional" price cut from $60 to $30 that's been in effect since , and it famously . Developer Oleg Krupnov recently put his $20 storage utility on a 24-hour sale for just $5. On the more permanent end of the spectrum, Sophiestication Software changed the price of its CoverSutra iTunes controller from about $18 to $5, and Conceited Software also lowered the standard price of its IRC client from $28 to $6.

But Mizage, Irraddiated, and Wang are among the few developers that offer full license swaps to their entire existing customer bases. And according to several other developers spoke with, there are a number of good reasons for that.