Apple’s Mac Developer Program

With the advent of the Mac App Store, I’ve noticed some confusion from new Mac developers on some message boards. They think they must sign up for Apple’s Mac Developer Program and pay $99 a year to develop applications for Mac OS X.

You don’t have to sign up for the paid developer program to download Xcode or to write Mac applications. A free developer account with Apple is all you need. If you don’t care about having the latest version of Xcode, you can install Xcode from your Mac OS X install disc and avoid signing up for any developer account with Apple.

There are two reasons to sign up for the Mac Developer Program and pay the $99 annual fee.

Reason 1: You need access to pre-release versions of Mac OS X #

As I’m writing this post, the current version of Mac OS X is 10.6.6. Members of the paid developer program get access to pre-release versions of 10.6.7 and 10.7 so they can test their applications on upcoming versions of Mac OS X. Generally developers with shipping applications are the ones with the greatest need for access to pre-release versions of Mac OS X. They must make sure the new version of Mac OS X doesn’t break their application. If you’re new to Mac development, you most likely don’t need this access.

Reason 2: You want your application in the Mac App Store #

If you want to be in the Mac App Store, you must pay the $99. But you can wait until you’re close to releasing your application to sign up for the paid developer program.

Those of you who have no need for pre-release versions of Mac OS X and the Mac App Store can save your money while you develop Mac applications.