Apple: No demo, beta software allowed in Mac App Store

“Through its developer services, Apple has provided some new instructions to coders working on software for the upcoming Mac App Store,” MacNN reports. “In particular, Apple now says that demos and betas are explicitly blocked from submission. ‘Your website is the best place to provide demos, trial versions, or betas of your software for customers to explore,’ an update mentions. ‘The apps you submit to be reviewed for the Mac App Store should be fully functional, retail versions of your apps.'”

MacNN reports, “At the iTunes App Store, it’s common practice for developers to release ‘Lite’ versions of apps in order to attract buyers. Apple bears the financial burden of hosting the software, however, and may not be willing to extend such courtesy for much larger files.”

Full article here.

MacDailyNews Take: The Mac App Store’s main selling point for developers is that it’ll be the world’s largest store for Mac applications and it will quickly become the place where most Mac users shop for and buy software. If you develop and sell Mac apps, you need to be in Apple’s Mac App Store. Developers can still easily direct Mac App Store shoppers to their websites to download trials, demos or beta apps.