What will Apple buying Pixelmator mean to us?

[PaoloT]

With Apple purchasing Pixelmator and Photomator, it looks like a third pro design and publishing suite may soon appear, joining Adobe and Affinity.

I even tend to believe that Apple did this move after having lost the opportunity of purchasing Affinity, a suite that was in a recent Apple event (but not in the latest one). [EDIT: Apparently, Affinity Photo was used during the presentation of the new MacBook Pro M4 as an example of speed.]

Competition means new stimuli, and more file formats to which to interconnect. Let's hope this will mean good things for us Affinity users.

Paolo

 

[fde101]

A curious move after they killed off Aperture and Shake...  hmm...

[Seneca]

6 minutes ago, PaoloT said:

I even tend to believe that Apple did this move after having lost the opportunity of purchasing Affinity, a suite that was in a recent Apple event (but not in the latest one).

I think Apple decided to buy Pixelmator and Photomator to show off its AI capabilities and M4, or future 5, or 6 processor speeds.

There was a big backlash here in our forum regarding the use of AI in Affinity products.

So in a way it's a good thing that the purchase of Affinity products was never on the cards (but what do I know).

[Ldina]

Just a guess (like everyone), but I think their initial focus will be on the millions of iPhone and iPad users who take photos with these devices and want to improve them (directly on their devices), add fun AI features, etc, then share them. That market is massive compared to those of us using apps professionally, semi-pro or advanced amateur. They want to “one-up” their competitors by adding cool features, mostly targeted at non-techie amateurs. Apple is huge and needs to attract mass markets to keep revenue and profits up.

Where they go afterwards is even more of a guess. I agree it’s interesting after dropping Aperture and other such products. 

[PaoloT]

7 hours ago, Seneca said:

in a way it's a good thing that the purchase of Affinity products was never on the cards

The best part is, for the Windows users, that Apple would have killed that side of the development. And, for the Apple users, this would have meant ending up with a niche suite not accepted where Windows is the main working machine.

Logic and Final Cut are fantastic pieces of software, but you can't use them if you don't have an Apple computer or device. On the other side, it is true that they can, in this way, make full use of the features of their machines, without awful mutilations as the single-window logic in the Affinity apps.

Paolo

 

[Evaluation complete.]

On 11/2/2024 at 3:37 AM, Ldina said:

Just a guess (like everyone), but I think their initial focus will be on the millions of iPhone and iPad users who take photos with these devices and want to improve them (directly on their devices), add fun AI features, etc, then share them. That market is massive compared to those of us using apps professionally, semi-pro or advanced amateur. They want to “one-up” their competitors by adding cool features, mostly targeted at non-techie amateurs. Apple is huge and needs to attract mass markets to keep revenue and profits up.

You're probably absolutely right. The "take pictures on the spot with your phone and get them processed, manipulated, and shared instantly" market is enormous, and it's the technologies, algorithms, and their integration that the major players are investing in. The products themselves and their original users always end up losing out.

That's one thing I've really appreciated about Adobe CC throughout my career. It'll still be there next year. And it’s that reliability, stability, and ability to maintain their work velocity that professional customers need more than anything.