New Mac Developer Program, New Mac Games

Last Friday Apple overhauled the Mac Developer program for the first time in years. Gone is the tiered system, replaced with a single $99 price. But also gone is the hardware discount. Thought some developers point out that with a $99 program replacing a $500 one, the savings are close to the hardware discount anyway.
Unlike the iPhone Developer Program, the Mac Developer Program isn’t required to develop Mac software. Apple does not control the distribution of Mac software like it does for the iPhone, iPod Touch and iPad. So membership in the Mac Developer Program is voluntary, with support being the primary benefit.
Game developer Valve announced that it is bringing the bulk of its game library to the Mac in April. Games include Left 4 Dead 2, Team Fortress 2, Counter-Strike, Portal, and the Half Life game series. In addition, new games were being developed for simultaneous deployment on PCs and Macs. This follows EA’s lead from a few years back when it started deploying games on the Mac at the same time as for Windows.
Apple removed more apps from the App Store this week, this time targeting Wi-Fi “stumblers” — apps that look for and display the names of nearby Wi-Fi signals. The reason for the purge this time is simply that many of these apps use part of the iPhone OS that is restricted by the iPhone Developer agreement. These are referred to as “private APIs” and can cause the app to stop working correctly when that part of the iPhone’s OS is updated, which is why Apple prohibits their use. Some Wi-Fi finder apps that did not use this functionality remain in the App Store.