It’s been an adventuresome road, but we’re quite excited to announce that a few of your favorite Panic apps are on the brand-new Mac App Store… right now.

It’s true. Coda, Transmit, and Unison are all waiting for you, one click away.

Why? There are a few great reasons for us to embrace this new way to buy. First, through years of tech support, we know that installing and updating apps is a massive point of confusion for a surprising amount of users, and the Mac App Store is a tremendous step in making that process more like a pillow of cake and less like a bag of hurt. Second, there’s no question this will become the way new Mac users will find Mac software, particularly when Lion ships, and we’d be insane not to be in the results when someone searches for “FTP” or “HTML”. Third, we think people will really, really take to the idea of one account for all your purchases and never losing a serial number again — on that new MacBook Air, just re-downloading apps with a click, entering your Apple ID, and getting straight to work, is a huge thing. (“I like your app, but I only buy apps through the App Store” is something I can already hear myself saying… and it’s day one!)

There are still some unanswered questions about the Mac App Store, of course. There’s no way to provide upgrade pricing for future major releases — everyone pays full price — which probably won’t go over well. There are also concerns about price, of course, even though our prices haven’t changed a bit. (These apps are complex, man! This ain’t no iOS!) It’s also rough that developers don’t get a record of who buys our software, making support and marketing much, much more challenging. And until we see how it all shakes out, we’ll also be maintaining and improving our own ordering system, treating all customers equally, so that’s two things to maintain instead of one. But we think it’s an “experiment” well worth taking.

If you’ve been waiting to buy a Panic app, or if you want your Panic apps tied to your Apple ID for easy installation, or if you’d love a single source for auto-updating all your stuff, or, heck, if you just want to test the Mac App Store, now’s the time.

Just click here for Coda, Transmit, or Unison.

No matter how you buy our software, we’ll be here to provide the same fantastic tech support, timely automatic updates, and innovative ideas, to all customers, everywhere.

Here’s to 2011!

PS: If you’re a current customer, there’s no way to convert a previous purchase into a Mac App Store purchase — that requires a re-buy. But remember, what you have now will continue to work just fine.

UPDATE: The Mac App Store may show software bought from us previously as “Installed”, even though they’re two different licenses. You will not get Mac App Store auto-updates unless you purchase from the Mac App Store. To re-enable the “Purchase” button in the Mac App Store, just drag the app to the trash and empty your trash. Your preferences/sites will not be affected.

TO CLARIFY: Panic will continue to auto-update and support existing customers, as well as new Mac App Store customers. You don’t have to get the Mac App Store build to keep getting updates and support!