I’ve been in the Apple Retail business since 1983 when the landscape was completely different but there has always been one major problem for Macintosh owners since the dominance of windows PCs and that has been where to find and buy Macintosh software. The major software retailers, even to this day, offer a token amount of Mac software. I used to work at Microcenter until about 4 years ago. Microcenter has a devoted Apple store within a store and offers the complete line of Apple products and peripherals (with the exception of iPhone) and third party peripherals and software. Shelf space in brick and mortar stores has always been limited and as such, the 80/20 rule applies. Stores will carry the top 10 or 20 applications that 80% or 90% of the people buy. So we’ll stock all of the Microsoft consumer products, some of the Adobe products (Elements always, only some of the creative suite apps due to the expense of such packages), all of the Apple consumer apps but almost none of the Pro apps (again, too expensive – they’ll be special order only). We might carry Corel products for Mac and we’ll carry a few utility applications but only from the top vendors (Symantac, Techtool, etc.). If a top tier Windows software developer has Mac products, there will be a lot higher probability that we will carry their Mac apps (but not guaranteed). Most of the software we stocked would be taken directly from our distributors top 10 lists in sales (Ingram, Micro-D, etc.)
In the games and education product category, the software landscape was bleaker. The Apple department almost never carried educational software unless it happened to be on a hybrid PC/Mac disc. Entertainment software was much the same with the exception of the top gaming companies like EA. When all was said and done, if you walk into a brick and mortar store like Microcenter, one that actually had a Macintosh selection of software, you might expect to see 18-24 linear shelf feet of software. In stores that don’t have an Apple presence (a lot of the Office supply stores these days) you might find Mac software on hybrid discs but only if you knew what to look for. Most consumers do not and rely heavily on the recommendations of sales people who are almost universally clueless too. At least that’s been the state of things until Apple, realizing the short shrift they get in places like Microcenter (hate to say it since I like the store so much) and Best Buy, etc took matters in their own hands and opened their first retail stores.
Any software discovery for the customer might happen on the recommendation of a qualified Macintosh enthusiast if they happened to work in the store. Often times, we would make recommendations to the corporate buyers, but these often fell on deaf ears.
The internet has certainly helped to improve the ability to find and try out new software but then you have to know what you are looking for. Sites like Versiontracker, TUAW, MacWorld, Apple and others can help, but again, you have to know those sites exist and the average PC user won’t likely find these sites except by accident. The users of TUAW and Macrumors are not the “typical” computer users and we have to remember that. So, an extension of the Apple Store which already exists on Apples website, that allows for easier software discovery, purchase, downloads, updates, support and forums may help explode the market for Macintosh applications the way the App store has done for the iPhone/iPod and iPad.
