Universal Purchase for Mac Apps Now Available

Sounds OK on the surface but, I mean, just look at this nonsense [1]:

“Multiple App Records. If your app is currently available on multiple platforms through separate app records, please note that app records can’t be merged. To offer universal purchase, remove all but one version from sale and add the other versions to the remaining app’s record. Once an app is removed from sale, its original product page on the App Store becomes unavailable and you are no longer able to provide updates to existing users. Ratings and reviews are not transferred to the new product page.”

[1] https://developer.apple.com/support/universal-purchase/

It’s really disappointing how the App Store continues to be a customer-unfriendly wasteland, where Apple’s decisions always manage to cause all customer ire to be directed toward developers (who didn’t cause the problem and often have no solution), instead of Apple (who is responsible and does nothing).

What are the most likely fallouts of the decision above?

1. Suppose a developer does convert old paid Mac apps to a new ID. Now, years of loyal, PAYING customers are arbitrarily cut off from all new updates without any good way to transition them. Any accumulated reviews are lost, which will greatly harm potential sales. Result: Angry customers; developer is blamed (resulting in piles of lousy new reviews, with the added insult that all old reviews are no longer there to offset the average rating). And of course, Apple isn’t blamed.

2. Suppose a developer does NOT convert old apps, maintaining two unlinked versions. Suddenly the Mac version feels “expensive” compared to any apps with one purchase for all (which will probably be forced to offer absurdly low prices). Customers who bought one platform and not the other feel insulted for being asked to still pay for both, at any price. Result: Angry customers; developer is blamed, Apple isn’t blamed.