Web site MacHeist is introducing a retail bundle of 12 shareware Mac applications now available for $49 via download. Included in the bundle: Awaken, Cha-Ching, CoverSutra, DEVONthink Personal, iClip, Overflow, Wallet, WriteRoom, XSlimmer, Enigmo, Budgom 2, Nanosaur 2. The bundle will be offered online for about a month before being moved to retail stores. Offering bundles through retail is a new strategy for MacHeist as explained here on their site:

The plan is to have the bundle sell for a 1-year term. We wanted to make 100% sure that we didn’t cannibalize the sales of the developers on their own sites, so we’re doing a 30-day trial period with them. If at the end of the trial any dev feels that things aren’t going as they’ve hoped for, they have the right to opt-out and we’ll replace their app with another one. The good thing is that according to all the devs I’ve talked to so far, their sales have actually gone up significantly so far (my iClip sales included). So far, so good.

Link: MacHeist Retail Bundle – $49