App Store Expense Monitor
Evan alerted me to this nifty app earlier which I should have noticed even earlier since Macworld US wrote about it a couple of weeks ago. It's a menu item called App Store Expense Monitor. What it does is it gives you a list of all the iPhone apps you've ever purchased based on the iTunes Media folder in your computer and it also tells you how much you've spent.
If you have purchased apps using different iTunes Store accounts, it will display them separately although it can only display in one currency. It uses the currency setting inside the System Preferences under Language & Text in Mac OS X Snow Leopard or under International in Leopard. This means if you use accounts with multiple countries that use different currency symbols, it will only show your primary currency.
It's handy because it lets you keep track of what you've bought and how much you've spent. You can also export the list into one text file that can be imported into a spreadsheet.
It's not without several issues though:
1. It looks up current app prices on the App Store to determine how much you've spent.
It doesn't help if you got the apps at different prices or even for free during promo periods. If you did, you'll have to manually enter the actual price you paid. If you've spent money by purchasing for items directly from inside an application, this app won't know anything about it.
2. It's a menu item app
It could have been a proper application that sits on the Dock but the developer decided to make it a menu item. I can see why it's useful up there but it should have been an option like with Skitch. There is precious little real estate on the menu bar when you're not using a 2000 pixel wide monitor.
3. The app stays on top
Even dialog boxes would step back when you switch to a different app. This thing stays on top even when it's not the active window, obscuring whatever windows you have open underneath.
4. No secondary click option
It would have been more useful had it had a contextual menu when you control+click on each of the app listed
Regardless of those shortcomings, this app is undoubtedly useful. Arguably, buying apps using iTunes Gift Cards would be a better way to control your spending if that option available in your country. At the moment, there is no iTunes Cards for the App Stores in South East Asia.
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