As with the iOS App Store, the Mac App Store currently offers developers no way to charge for upgrades. In other words, if the new version of a program is significant enough that the developer must charge for it, there's no way to offer existing users a reduced fee--they must pay the same as someone buying the application for the first time. This can be frustrating in the iOS App Store, but since most iOS apps cost under $5, it's something many users have grudgingly accepted. But on the Mac App Store, a , and many titles cost $20 or more. Users aren't going to be as willing to pony up the full price for an upgrade, and developers are going to be even more frustrated by the lack of upgrade pricing--an expected option for traditional Mac software. We hope Apple adds this feature before the first round of major upgrades to Mac App Store software.

Among developers (and the media, for that matter), redemption codes have become a hugely popular feature of the iOS App Store. Developers use them for everything from promotional giveaways to customer-service accommodations--not to mention for providing review copies of their wares to members of the media. For whatever reason, the Mac App Store doesn't currently allow for promo codes. That's something Apple should rectify, and fast--some Mac App Store developers have resorted to purchasing iTunes gift cards and sending reviewers the codes off those cards to "buy" review copies of apps.

But we also think the Mac App Store demands more flexibility when it comes to promo codes. For apps on the iOS App Store, Apple limits the number of codes developers can give out (possibly because Apple doesn't make any money off redemption codes). This limit has frustrated many iOS developers, but it hasn't been too onerous because the situations in which a developer needs to give away thousands, or even hundreds, of copies of an app are rare. On the Mac App Store, however, this limit prohibits developers from using redemption codes to fix one of the major problems of the Mac App Store--as a way for owners of the non-Mac App Store version of a program to transition that license to the Store version. Many developers would love to be able to issue a promo code to any customer who wanted to make such a move.