Apple‘s next earnings call is on January 29. I, for one, will be listening to see if they make a big deal out of Apple Creator Studio.
Apple One is going to have to have some features added or I’m downgrading a level. I haven’t found iCloud to be useful in a way that differentiates it from other cloud services and I’m really looking to being storage local where the throughput and latency will be better. I can’t be the only one looking through my file system and seeing the empty cloud icon littered all over the place.
Apple Intelligence is likely going to have enforce limits and my hope is that Apple One subscribers get a lot more opportunities for image generation and the like. Personally I don’t get subscription fatigue because I like being being able to quickly get rid of a subscription if it no longer serves my purpose. I think the fatigue comes from “wanting” everything and realizing “everything” is expensive.
My wife, who is an MBA, gave me a succinct answer why companies prefer recurring revenue opportunities that things like subscriptions bring. “It’s so that companies can forecast revenue better” and honestly they have an an inverse benefit for consumers who’s software expenditures can be more accurately forecasted and budgeted for.
The problem is Indie Developers aren’t going to benefit from subscriptions as much as larger companies with more scale. My of my subs that I had to cancel were from the smaller devs just based on overall value.
AFAIK, Apple iCloud data still resides on Google and AWS servers. And, IMO, all its problems are due to whatever happens to the data as it passes back and forth through Apple.
So I keep just enough iCloud data to store my recent photos and files. And keep the bulk of my data elsewhere.
That’s exactly my plan. I think i’ll do just fine with the 200GB plan and store my larger data on a NAS.
I think Apple’s services strategy is moving forward, it just needs a bit of polishing. The Creator Studio to me is a steal but that’s because I have younguns that think they want to be YouTubers but don’t understand behind the scenes work yet.
I’m eyeballing AppleCare One but it’s still too limited (to an Apple Account). Some day i’m going to carry my iPhone without a case …or at least thats the dream but everyone I know that does this their phones look like they’ve returned from WWII.
Not me. I carried my original iPhone until the 4S came out, but that phone and all that have followed (5S, 6S, 11, 16) have worn a case (or a bumper).
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I think Jason Snell did a great job of capturing the various issues: Apple’s pro bundle makes sense, but making iWork freemium doesn’t – Six Colors
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Now, if they could just pick up the old codebase of Aperture and merge Photomator into it. Except, no, they’re far too late on that. That market is saturated.
If the market is saturated, I have not been looking in the right places! I would love to pick up an alternative to Lightroom.
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Agreed, problem is the announcement is vague as to just what ai will be doing for these apps, so it is hard to gauge what benefit the subscription will offer. I use them but also use the Microsoft Office apps and the ai they are providing is decidedly meh.
ON1, Capture One, Luminar Neo, Digikam, RawTherapee, RapidRAW, Darkroom, Photomator, and probably others.
Not in the list above are two that stand out. For very different reasons.
DxO PhotoLab is my preference for absolute quality.
Darktable is the one I would sell my cameras before considering.
Which function of Lightroom do you need an alternative to: image processing or image cataloguing? If you don’t need the latter, there are plenty of alternatives, as @zkarj pointed out. If you need a catalogue manager too, you can use Adobe Bridge for free. It’s not at powerful as Lightroom’s Library module, but if all you need is something basic, it’s fine.
I second @zkarj’s DxO Photolab recommendation, by the way. It’s a one-time purchase you can keep using for as long as you like if you don’t need to upgrade every time there’s a new version. I don’t use Photolab any more, but I rely on DxO’s PureRaw for raw conversion before I process them in Lightroom or Photoshop. I also rely on DxO’s SilverEfex to process B&W images. DxO makes excellent tools!
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As a Teacher the fact that I get the suite for $29 a year is kind of amazing.
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I feel like I’m missing out (hey, my Mum was a teacher… uhhh… several decades ago!) until I realise that I already own Final Cut Pro, Logic Pro, Pixelmator Pro, and Motion. I have zero need for Mainstage, and my minimal use of Final Cut means I have minimal need of Compressor.
I will be slightly interested in Pixelmator Pro for iPad. But only slightly.
It took me about a week thinking about it, then I switched to OnlyOffice, if only until matters shake themselves out. EDIT: OnlyOffice is having some problems with one of my spreadsheets…
I really don’t want Pages, Numbers and Keynote to be subscription-based; I’d really like to use them. A one time fee every few years would be fine.
Catalogue. A really good cataloguing app. As a longtime field researcher, I rarely edit photos — especially in advanced ways. I might crop or adjust contrast for publication, but for my own use, they are just photos. But there’s a lot of them. (Thousands for a book on crawfish boats.) My memory of Bridge was that it was a bit better than Finder, but the cataloguing function of Lightroom has only ever been approached by Aperture, which I almost switched to … and then Apple EOLed it. Photos’ clumsy handling of multiple libraries — the option-click feels like a workaround — inspires no confidence.
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I just downloaded the “new” Pages, but without Apple Creator Studio subscription. The older free templates are there along with the new, locked out, templates. However the new templates are given the prominent position, and you have to scroll through them to get to the older ones. Also there are new menu items, again placed prominently, to encourage one to buy the subscription.
I don’t like this commercial push, and there is no way to demote or hide this stuff. You also pay for it in a much increased size of the app.
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Photos sucks as a manager in so many ways. I agree nothing has got to the level Lightroom has. A fun fact: you can use just the Library module of Lightroom Classic for free. You do need an Adobe account, but you do not need a plan.
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Totally agree. I noticed it today on my phone and I am not amused. All the ACS is so obtrusively placed that it is not worthy of Apple. If I wished to be pestered with advertisement, I would choose a different platform.
I think Apple should not do much freemium at all. It quickly degrades the premium Apple experience if you do not have a certain subscription. Either free or paid. I do not need ACS and I certainly not paying 100+ €/$/£ for some templates.
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My gripe with Pages is that its styles lock you in.
On those happy occasions I write for someone else, I have to conform to their formatting.
I may want to send my work to someone else with very different formatting requirements.
Pages won’t let me load a new style set. I have to change my document to match the new requirements. If the first guy wants a correction, I have to change his copy and also new copies with revised styles. Bummer.
It is otherwise a very pleasant word processor.
This is exactly what I was worried about when they first released the announcement of creators studio. The upsell within their apps just feels off brand for them and cheesy. Especially when you’ve been beating the drum of being a hardware company and justifying the premium prices by offering the full package. I don’t care for the new features and I’m not interested in subscribing, but let me hide that nonsense away at least.
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You can at least remove the tools from the Toolbar. But that’s all. You can submit feedback within the apps, and I’m doing so.