Interesting read and very true imo
Being a big fish in a small pond is a lot easier than being a big fish in an ocean
Lots fewer predators to worry about 
There are copycat predators around in the MAS too. And they are just as stupid, dragging prices down exactly the same way.
and less competition 
thats exactly what I meant about “lots fewer predators”
True, but most copycats are awful too and OSX users do seem to know the difference.
The word seem is the most important. Two years ago, my Check Printer was alone in the MAS. Today, there are 5 copycats, from free to $3.99, passing by $0.99. Sure, my app still sells at $15.99 down from $19.99, but I have no way to estimate the erosion due to parasites, which I am certain exists. Any sales from these guys eat up my own.
In business, one should never underestimate competition.
Another painful side effect of carpet level prices is that the perceived value of software tends to become nil. What happened in the iOS App Store is occurring in the MAS for the very same reason outlined in the article you linked to : it is much too easy for junkware iOS developers to port their apps to Mac OS. On the long run, it means the same incredible number of bad $0.99 apps will generate such an amount of noise, it will become impossible to be seen in an ocean of garbage. Especially with Apple’s indigent search engine.
I agree completely, and so do several other big names.
This is part of the reason some well known Mac apps aren’t available in the MAS; in addition to the myriad of other issues.
Muggles complain that software is too expensive and won’t pay for it, but what happens when it all disappears?
Muggles already killed the music industry. Helped by record companies stupidity, but rampant piracy is probably for a good deal in the quasi disappearance of new and original material. Seeing DJs producing their own records from doctored pieces from real artists is a sign of acute degenerescence. Now the only way singers and groups make any money is through live performances.
and “Video killed the Radio Star” 
[quote=254193:@Tim Parnell]This is part of the reason some well known Mac apps aren’t available in the MAS; in addition to the myriad of other issues.
[/quote]
Although I have been operating successfully on web sites way before the MAS, and today a big part of my business is done outside of it, I still see the interest of being there.
The MAS remains an interesting venue, even if it has lost a good deal of business for me. Back in 2013, for certain products, the MAS went up to about the same as what I was doing on the Internet. Today it is between 1/4 and 1/3. I am not ready yet to abandon such a significant share. But the very phenomenon, verified by other developers, shows that the gold rush may be over.
I would recommend anybody who has the MAS as sole outlet, to consider sooner rather than later having other venues. Starting with a web site.
The very constraints of the MAS also make it difficult or impossible to place everything there. For instance programs that would lose too many features because of sandboxing. I have a couple apps that will never go to the MAS : I refuse to cripple them in order to sandbox.
MAS is full of shit too; it’s a much much smaller market that’s now saturated in poor quality cheap apps.
Large companies can afford advertising and App Store promos, hobbyists don’t care about making money while we (a small company) are squeezed out.