Really I don't see much to worry about in the App store for established small software shops. Software customers like myself have little to gain from it, I have never bought a piece of 3rd party software (ranging from $30 shareware utilities to my $2,500 CAD workhorse) without a trial or demo. I will probably cruise the aisles once in a while as I do for iPhone apps, looking for something which might be useful, and I might blow ten bucks once in a while on something of obvious value. Most likely it will be a 'grownup' version of something I already use and value on my iPhone, so that's your demo right there.

I do think there could be improvements in the consumer experience outside of the App store - at present when I identify a need for some particular utility I have to put up with an irritating PC-centric site like Tucows. I would love to see an independent Mac-only store that offered a full range of professional-quality software through a standardized experience. How about a coop? There are plenty of examples of extremely successful marketing/distribution cooperatives out there in other industries, everything from butter (Land O' Lakes) to hardware (Ace). A coop could gain advantages of scale in marketing for small operators while allowing them to keep their independent identities. For consumers it would offer a trusted umbrella brand for a comprehensive range of software needs from those individual suppliers. This would be great time to set up such a major competitor to the Mac App store, putting to rest all the present anxieties of a single walled garden for the OS.

I offer this comment as a small business user who has been entirely committed to the Mac OS since 1994. I have just enough tech skills and intellectual curiosity to do what I need to do software-wise to keep my business sharp, efficient and alert. A typical long-term customer?