In if you've been paying attention to Mac software and hardware over the past few years, you've undoubtedly noticed that the packaging keeps getting smaller and smaller. In part done for environmental reasons and in part as a cost savings measure, Apple's packaging techniques have continuously gotten more efficient and minimalistic. In that vein, now comes word that Apple may do away with physical software packaging for good. With the advent of the Mac App Store which launched last month, Apple is trying to do for desktop software what it's already done for mobile software.
In if you’ve been paying attention to Mac software and hardware over the past few years, you’ve undoubtedly noticed that the packaging keeps getting smaller and smaller. In part done for environmental reasons and in part as a cost savings measure, Apple’s packaging techniques have continuously gotten more efficient and minimalistic.
In that vein, now comes word that Apple may do away with physical software packaging for good. With the advent of the Mac App Store which launched last month, Apple is trying to do for desktop software what it’s already done for mobile software. To that end, MacRumors reports that the days of browsing around Apple retail stores and seeing items like iMovie may be coming to an end.
With the success of the iTunes App Store and the launch of the Mac App Store, it seems clear that the long term future of software sales is going to be digital distribution. Based on what we’ve heard from our sources, however, Apple is planning on making the move to all digital sooner than expected at their retail stores. Apple is working towards eliminating boxed software and presumably focusing sales through the Mac App Store.
Ah yes, there’s no denying that Apple is keen on digital software distribution, as as pointed out by others, clearing out space occupied by relatively low margin software would give Apple even more space to showcase high margin products likeiPods and iPhones . Moreover, the Mac App Store is an important component of the forthcoming OS X 10.7 Lion update. And not to completely jump on the Apple rumor mill bandwagon, but with reports that Apple is toying with the idea of releasing an Internet connected HDTV, they’re gonna need a lot of room to set up those displays – in which case, getting rid of boxed software may be the way to go.
