woahhhhh please keep it intact and bring back aperture.
This certainly means the end of Pixelmator.
I guess we know what to expect in the next major update to Photos now.
I could get behind this. CaptureOne and especially Lightroom need some competition in this space.
That is exciting! The deep integration will be wonderful, if done well.
I’m optimistic with some nuanced views. If all of Pixelmator gets integrated into the Photos App, that would be pretty awesome. (Also, if Apple just kept it as a free-standing app, that would be great, too.) Nevertheless, I don’t see why it’s necessary or beneficial for Apple to be buying apps like this. There is no competition Apple faces for the native photos app. Apple doesn’t seem to need to compete with Adobe in the photo editing space. (unless it wants to add a creative-cloud like subscription service). So, I’d rather Apple support a robust third-party app ecosystem. Focus on building out the core OS features–especially on iPadOS–and give the thrid-party developers the tools they need to develop really powerful apps.
Apple finally came to its senses and realized killing Aperture was beyond stupid.
Better cameras is probably the primary reason why I upgrade my phone.
The Photos app is “meh” it’s just not going to appeal to an enthusiast. Photomator should become Apple’s Pro app for photo editing.
Or going subscription?
(Like some of Apple’s Pro apps)
It’s probably because they see photos as a key feature of their ecosystem. iPhone and iPad for taking them and then software for managing and sharing. Photos is fine for simple edits, but for people who want to do more (without going down the Adobe route), Pixelmator is a good choice. So the prosumer market.
I think this might be more than just photos.
Pixelmator Pro has great capabilities in design. They now have a lot of Canva-style templates. It can import editable Keynote and Pages PDF into the app, and can cope with design files such as EPS.
If Apple wanted to revamp iWork, with design as a central offer, then this would be a shortcut to making a long-in-the-tooth productivity suite into something modern and exciting - providing an alternative to suites like Canva and up-and-coming apps such as Visme, Snappa and even Microsoft Designer It certainly is a growing space that must be looking interesting the creative streak in Apple.
Agreed. As a user of both, I understand that. I guess my question is more of the “why” does Apple have to own the app rather than just let a thrid-party fill the need. The question itself may seem doltish. Apple wants to be vertically integrated, Apple wants to control everything in the pipeline. The reasons may be that simple. I’d rather not have apple compete with thrid-party developers and let the developers fill the need. It does not strike me that Apple is losing money by not having apps like Pixelmator or Photomator. If one buys and iPad or Mac, these tools are available to them.
My question may still be doltish. I guess my underlying philosophy, is that Apple (or Microsoft or Linux distributions–I guess the analogy doesn’t quite hold there) should create powerful, flexible operating systems, and an efficient, accessible, toolchain to allow developers to access all that power to create magnificent software that is both functional and a joy to use.
I’m not a huge activist on this point. I just think, in my ideal world, it’d be a better way to go.
But, maybe I’m viewing things like this from the wrong perspective.
@Nick’s reply came in before I finished mine, and his is a very insightful take. I’m not sure that it is an answer to my “why” question – i.e., why does Apple need to compete with Canva. Not that Nick was writing in response to anything of mine. I just wanted to incorporate it into my thinking.
I’m not sure how to feel about this. Photomator was great on the iPhone/iPad for quick edits; their ML edits were excellent and convenient, and for many things much better than the Photos app. I was just contemplating getting the lifetime premium for Photomator on the Mac (for early supporters, it’s a one-off price).
There are instances where Apple killed off bought apps but also where they immediately made paid apps free when they bought them (Workflow) until they were ready to release whatever they had in mind. I find this announcement quite weak in terms of any assurances that, say for at least a year, Pixelmator/Photomator aren’t going away.
Maybe they’re buying the devs, not the app.
My uninformed guess is that Apple will somehow integrate Photos, Apple AI imaging capabilities, and Pixelmator to create more powerful image management, editing, and creation options.
I want nothing more than for iWork to be on par with Google and Microsoft’s offerings.
We might be looking at different spaces. Third-party developers might be able to meet the needs in the “consumer-to-prosumer” space, but in the “prosumer-to-professional” space, third-party development is lacking. It would be great for Apple to step up to provide an alternative to Adobe or CaptureOne. I give Serif credit with its Affinity Suite, but it’s still missing key features.
I haven’t used Pixelmator in years but this was my first thought. Apple is scrambling to create “Apple Intelligence” enhanced apps and the Pixelmator team has some gee whiz feature they have been working on?
If this is like the Workflow acquisition it may be a couple of years before we see any results.
I expect we will see a Lightroom competitor, not a Photoshop one. I doubt Apple could come close to Photoshop in the next 5 years…
That makes very good sense. I suppose it would still be ideal to have third-party developers take on the needs of professional use cases; however, perhaps, the barriers to entry make that too difficult. Thus, having a 3-trillion-pound gorilla to offer competing pro-level products may be the only available option?
As a user of Pixelmator on the Mac, this is sad news. I don’t recall ever where Apple bought out an app developer and then let them continue to function independently. This was a very good editor that was NOT subscription. Apple will most likely tear it down to the bare bones and then try to incorporate some of the functionality into Photos. But like most Apple apps, it will be OK for the average user but not as good as Pixelmator.