Apple Acquires Photo Editing App Maker Pixelmator

[Mr. Nice]

And here comes a new subscription from Apple!!! 😀

"Cupertino, Start your subscription service."

Apple's service division generates more revenue than Mac, iPad and wearables combined.

You can see where Apple sees the future and where they want to squeeze more out of the lemon.

 

[platinumaqua]

A lot of people are mentioning Aperture, which keeps making me blink. Pixelmator and Pixelmator Pro aren't simple photo editors – they're full-fledged paint, draw and graphic design apps. Apple has never really had one of these to offer, and the Pixelmator team have always embraced and emphasized Mac-native technologies and presented themselves in Apple's own spirit and style. It's felt like their mission has always been to provide the built-in Mac graphic design app simply because Apple hadn't.

A couple of people have mentioned Logic as well, and this feels much more like that. Logic is a true pro app that Apple has nurtured and developed into something far more powerful and valuable for its price.

It also reminds me of the good old iWork apps: Pages, Keynote and Numbers – the point at which they decided they shouldn't have to rely squarely on Microsoft for only halfway Mac-like office productivity apps. (It even reminds me of the first version of Safari – the same idea with respect to Internet Explorer.) This seems like that, but for Adobe and Photoshop.

Logic has also languished for 10 years without a major update (2013-2023) recently

 

[bonotis]

Bring back Aperture.

 

[JamesMay82]

Sounds interesting if they bring more editing features to the photos app.

I think my dream which won’t happen would be to have a modern photos app that doesn’t rely on the cloud for back up.

I always worry that if disaster struck there servers it would sync and remove things automatically on our devices

 

[b.inazawa-fan]

Tim. I know you read my Macrumors forums account. Please don't kill Pixelmator.

 

[silentdevotion]

Apple has the chops to make the kind of software their users demand. Unfortunately we cannot trust Apple not to kill good apps after we have built enterprise-critical workflows around said apps (e.g. MacProject, Aperture).

Power users are no longer Apples target audience. Look at Final Cut Pro 7 to X, is it at feature parity from over a decade ago? We can hope for the best but most expect the worse. Apple will buy the product and get rid of the devs and find a way to bundle it into Photo via a subscription.

 

[parameter]

After all of the recent and even not-so-recent screwups by Apple across both hardware AND software, this is very disappointing.

I'm a paid Pixelmator Pro and Photomator user, and have been for a very long time. I love the app, and it only keeps getting better.

It's literally such a well built piece of software. And as others have mentioned, it uses Apple libs very well and honestly sticks to and uses the official Apple HIG SO MUCH MORE EFFECTIVELY than even Apple (Actually, for most apps, Apple doesn't really even follow a lot of their own guidelines, which again has only gotten worse and worse over the years and keeps going down with each release of any app or OS upgrade).

So yes, I definitely see storm clouds looming for Pixelmator and it sucks. I absolutely would vote against this move and keep the Pixelmator developers running their own business, but obviously it's not up to me. I'm happy for the Pixelmator team, but I would bet just about anything that even they definitely see the future of their apps degrading.

We'll see, but I think this will be a disaster in the upcoming times. Another sad thing Apple has done this week. Lots of big announcements, with nearly all of them being not good and very underwhelming.

Yea I'm still an Apple fan but they're absolutely losing my faith in just about everything these days. If I were CEO, I'd say it's time to re-hire some of their old-old team, seriously. I don't see things improving if they keep on hiring all of these young and clearly not very competent or historically knowledgable (which definitely is needed to innovate and create good new products, ideas and put them into action. Without destroying the main base style, functionality and overall reliability that Apple is known for putting into products).
....and yea, I can't wait to hear the bad reactions to this post. But, it's honestly not looking good.

 

[Anonymous Freak]

NNNNNNOOOOOOOOO!!!!!!!!

 

[michaeljk]

The best case scenario would be something like what happened with Logic. I owned it since I think version 4, when it was still a separate company, Emagic. Here we are 20 years later and it is by some measures (yes room for disagreement) the all-around best DAW on the planet, and it keeps getting free updates for Mac users (iOS version is subscription base but I don't use it). Apple has not only greatly expanded Logic's capabilities but also made it much more user-friendly along the way. Best of both worlds.

I was bummed when they discontinued Aperture, as that was my main go-to for photography, then went to Lightroom until Adobe strong-armed me into a subscription model, and now I own Pixelmator and Luminar Neo. I generally use Pixelmator, but wanted to support a Ukrainian company (Luminar).

 

[michaeljk]

The best case scenario would be something like what happened with Logic. I owned it since I think version 4, when it was still a separate company, Emagic. Here we are 20 years later and it is by some measures (yes room for disagreement) the all-around best DAW on the planet, and it keeps getting free updates for Mac users (iOS version is subscription base but I don't use it). Apple has not only greatly expanded Logic's capabilities but also made it much more user-friendly along the way. Best of both worlds.

I was bummed when they discontinued Aperture, as that was my main go-to for photography, then went to Lightroom until Adobe strong-armed me into a subscription model, and now I own Pixelmator and Luminar Neo. I generally use Pixelmator, but wanted to support a Ukrainian company (Luminar). I really miss Aperture's library architecture. It would be great if Apple could cobble together a solution so Pixelmater is both a Photoshop and Lightroom competitor. I am not a graphic designer, but have a ton of photos taken by my DSLR that I'd like to get easy access to like I did with Aperture.

 

[TraceyS/FL]

Same I wish we had a light room alternative built for apple silicon

If only. Man I miss Aperture. I can’t believe no one has jumped in to fill this void, I keep trying different things, but nothing sticks for me.

 

[e-coli]

Could be positive news (although I have severe doubts). Adobe has never felt more vulnerable. Their software feels 100 years old. It’s clunky, slow, doesn’t work the way people work now, and their new features really suck in practice.

It could be a good time for a competitor to emerge.

Aperture was AMAZING. 🤞🏼

 

[techpr]

I USE PIXELMATOR ALMOST DAILY! APPLE PLEASE DON'T RUIN IT!

 

[phrehdd]

Sad. Good product but given Apple's reversal of photo stuff (think Aperture) it seems this software is doomed. I would much rather have a new Aperture tool than simply Pixelmator.

 

[imperfectibility]

This was not on my Friday bingo card. Pixelmator is some of the best macOS software because it takes advantage of everything that Apple bakes in to make it hum. I've recommended Pixelmator to everyone I know with a Mac as a cheap, robust photo editing suite.

I bet Apple plans to bake some of it into Photos and then also sell something more advanced (a true successor to Apeture).

I just hope Apple doesn't do with Pixelmator what they did with Dark Sky, which they ruined and never properly integrated into the weather app...

I have mixed feelings about this. Pixelmator is a mature product line. If getting acquired by Apple means a gradual phaseout, it'll be sad to see this once lightweight but powerful PS alternative gone. The same applies for Pixelmator Pro. On the other hand if it stays independent and receives continual development (which is extremely unlikely, looking at examples like Workflow / Dark sky), while Apple takes advantages of whatever technologies / patents within Pixelmator and builds its own pro-focused photo editing app (and ideally with DAM built-in), this could be a huge win for everybody.

Aperture has always been my favourite photos app since its launch on day once. Have been a loyal user till 2018/19 when features were finally broken or felt buggy enough with every new OS X update. Abandoned ship and moved on to Lightroom with the migration tool thing then. Lightroom till today still feels unnecessarily complicated, although it gets the work done, and arguably makes exports better than Aperture, which is not surprisingly with modern tech. I loved Aperture for its clean UI (missing the old days when 'Inspector' was just a simple CMD+I away, and came up as a floating window where I wanted it, without pushing the photo pane away whenever I need to summon it - LR and new Apple Photos style LMAO - not to mention the same design within the iWork suit in post '09 era), simple 'module-less' workflows, native integration with smart albums and spotlight, Photostream sync (which admittedly complicated photo management when it sync-ed low-res copies of iPhone pictures over the cloud and stored on your mac, but was a cool feature) and brushes that were ahead of the time. IMHO, Aperture failed when it tried to do too much within one single app, as Apple increasingly moved on to iCloud Photos in early - mid 2010's. There was simply no way to store TBs worth of RAW on the cloud, and is still true for average amateurs (me included) today. If Apple was to resurrect Aperture, the better way to go might be just to keep the RAW library local, but allows an easy way to sync 'exports' onto iCloud at the user's choice. Not everything NEEDS to be on the cloud. Just like Final Cut Pro doesn't need you to keep GBs if not TBs of footage in iCloud.

 

[yabeweb]

Another one bite the dust…

 

[sputnikBA]

They’ve always had a pretty good relationship with Apple and the apps have always been very “Mac-like”, so this is a good move for both sides (I can already feel the subscription pricing incoming though…). Maybe we can finally get that version of Pixelmator Pro for iPad now 😅😅😅😅😅😅😅.

I hope it doesn’t harm their relationship with Affinity as I love using the apps from both companies and feel like e is room in the market for both. Pixelmator for entry to enthusiast and Affinity for enthusiast to pro And anything that can contribute to a bit of a dent in Adobe’s stranglehold of the market is a win to me.

 

[thebart]

Ugh. I don't like any of Apple's apps. They all seem like minimum viable products whose development stopped 20 yrs ago. The only thing I use is Finder and if it weren't integrated in the OS and running all the time anyway I probably wouldn't use it either

I'm happy the pixemator people got a nice pay day anyway

 

[Khojmdn]

If only. Man I miss Aperture. I can’t believe no one has jumped in to fill this void, I keep trying different things, but nothing sticks for me.

Demand is too low now. Not enough $

 

[AndiG]

Oh no! I love Pixelmator and was hopening it would make it to other platforms like Linux in the future.
It replaced photoshop and now I‘m in fear that Apple kills it, like other products before.

 

[XboxEvolved]

Apple owns some of software companies that are given relative autonomy, they just benefit from having the keys to Apple’s castle. I am excited for this, and hopefully we see huge things in the future from one of my favorite apps!

 

[Starfia]

Logic has also languished for 10 years without a major update (2013-2023) recently

Alchemy, Live Loops, Sampler and Quick Sampler, Studio Strings and Brass, and so on…? Perhaps the definition of a "major" update is relevant, but it's certainly evolved and gained some great stuff – not languished.

 

[Shirasaki]

Oh no

Hope they don't ruin it

They will, and will ruin it as soon as possible. 🙁
Apple never keeps nice things created by someone else. NEVER.
They acquire, and devour. Mercilessly.

 

[Shirasaki]

'Exciting updates to come' = subscription pricing

RIP

And less features Than before with more and more locked behind a higher subscription pricing. 🙁
The app will be hundreds of dollars per month to use, and hundreds of dollars more to use it fully, with fewer features and worse everything.
Time to jump the ship.

 

[Hank001]

Absolutely.

The biggies ...

Mac OS X - NeXT
Apple Silicon - PA Semi

Plus, all of the good stuff.

Final Cut Pro/iMovie - Macromedia
DVD Studio Pro - Astarte
Logic/Garageband - eMagic

iTunes - SoundJam
Keynote - Lightstream Design (NeXT Developer)
Pages - Claris

Siri, App Store, Face ID, Touch ID, iTunes Match, Maps, etc. were all acquisitions (or made up of) too

Don't forget FingerWorks...which now generates over half of their revenue.

A lot of people are mentioning Aperture, which keeps making me blink. Pixelmator and Pixelmator Pro aren't simple photo editors – they're full-fledged paint, draw and graphic design apps.

Why people are only talking about Aperture lol.

People mention Aperture for a different reason: they killed it, and people are afraid Pixelmator is going to get killed now as well.

Aperture was primarily images management rather than image editing.

Indeed, it was a DAM. The best damn DAM we ever got for photography.