Apple Introduces New 'Creator Studio' Bundle of Apps for $129 Per Year

[TheNewLou]

The advantage Apple has over Microsoft's & Adobe's suites is that it combines the basic parts of each into one subscription. For most basic users, that's a win. (For professionals, of course, they'll use the specialized suite)

Microsoft will hate this. Will they buy Canva?

In the current low-regulation business environment, will they buy Adobe?

 

[thejadedmonkey]

Isn't the whole point of my M4 Pro chip, that it can handle AI generation locally? So why do I need to pay an extra subscription for it?

 

[Tig_one]

Yea Apple, can't even deliver a polished OS and you want a subscription on these, good one.

 

[dontwalkhand]

Whats with those ****** icons?

 

[DWScott]

I don't need MORE subscriptions.

This should have included an updated Photomator so I can CANCEL my Adobe photographer's bundle.

Or INCLUDE this with the Apple One subscription I already have.

 

[bcortens]

Bring back upgrade pricing instead of just charging once?

Yes? Paying once is not sustainable if you actually want to pay someone to keep maintaining the software and adding new features. Hence, if you add new features, you can charge for them in the form of upgrade prices. This nicely side-steps the issue of subscriptions, I can buy a piece of software and keep it forever, or if I want the new features, I can pay to upgrade to the new version.

 

[TheNewLou]

With Apple, you could theoretically have one mega subscription for AppleTV, Music, News, Gaming (I know, I know!), Creative Suite, Office.

It's an interesting strategy.

Other companies will have to merge to offer the same kind of comprehensive thing.

For this to succeed in our AI future, though, individual apps will be replaced by higher level text- or voice-input interfaces/prompts that will do more comprehensive things.

In other words, "use the Magic Wand Tool to remove the background" in a photo app will be replaced by "create an image that shows...". And "use the Styles window to change all occurences of the Level 1 Heading to Level 2 Heading" in a word processor or page layout app will be replaced by "create a document that summarizes our first quarter results...using our corporate font & color branding".

 

[TheNewLou]

20 years later, iWork & iLife combine with AI, the cloud, & subscriptions to become iPayEveryMonth®.

 

[turbineseaplane]

Iconography sure has gone downhill over in Cupertino.

 

[bcortens]

This is true but omits the costs associated with software maintenance: bug fixes and security updates. None of that is free for developers, but it’s expected with upgrade pricing.

I’m not thrilled about subscription pricing but I don’t know how else to manage the costs of the full lifetime of software.

I actually kind of agree with this and think that security updates do need to be paid for somehow, but only for network software. Not all software needs perpetual security updates.

Most software that requires network sync (iCloud Drive/DropBox) already costs money per month because it is on other people's servers. I do think that if I am using someone else's server I should probably be paying something because if I'm not then there is a good chance that it is me that is being monetized in some way to keep the lights on.

My office program shouldn't need perpetual security updates, nor should my drawing program or my video editing program. These programs shouldn't be able to compromise my data in such a way that they need perpetual updates. If they can do that I would say that it's time to choose a better OS with better data and memory protection.

 

[cSalmon]

Honestly think Apple is shooting themselves in the foot on this one. Through the 90's and 00's Creatives had to fight with their IT departments to keep Mac workstations. That battle was lost most Art departments I have worked with have transitioned to Window workstations. Now Apple is thumbing their nose at loyal Final Cut users. Guess what using Final Cut is not without it's loyalty challenges as any collaboration has needed to mesh with either Premier or DaVncy on window platforms.

$150 per year over five years = less than a grand
how much will Apple lose every five years not making sales of spec'd out Studios or MBPros

 

[Mr. Rod]

Those ****ing ugly icons, ARE THEY SERIOUS? 🤢💀

 

[It’s always something]

My office program shouldn't need perpetual security updates, nor should my drawing program or my video editing program. These programs shouldn't be able to compromise my data in such a way that they need perpetual updates. If they can do that I would say that it's time to choose a better OS with better data and memory protection.

I agree, but this reminds me of Word macro viruses back in the day. Even if my word processor doesn’t reach out to the internet itself, it can still be vulnerable to attacks distributed by other means.

The security landscape is very different now than it was back then but attacks still can’t be ruled out. And at that point I’m going to want patches. 🤷‍♂️

 

[Astro7x]

I can see AI features in stuff like Numbers being helpful.

I know nothing about how to properly use Excel, but I've been pretty dangerous asking ChatGPT what I want to do and it walking me through how to do it. A hell of a lot easier than watching a YouTube tutorial.

 

[iDento]

For people who didn’t pay for Final Cut before, this is a no brainer. Final Cut, Motion, and Compressor are $400!

 

[DWScott]

$150 per year over five years = less than a grand
how much will Apple lose every five years not making sales of spec'd out Studios or MBPros

This is what Apple has forgotten. I still remember The Steve slyly saying he didn't really care about piracy of Final Cut Pro because he sold the world's most expensive dongles. (For the kids - a dongle is a hardware protection device required to run a piece of software.)

 

[tomtad]

"Yes. You can continue using Keynote, Pages, Numbers, and Freeform for free. And while these apps remain free for everyone, an Apple Creator Studio subscription offers premium templates, a library of high-quality, royalty-free photos and graphics, and powerful intelligence features."

I'm not sure why I need to pay for video editing software to get premium templates in Pages and Magic Fill in Numbers. Surely there has to be another subscription that enables these just limited to the iWork apps?

 

[FNH15]

Main takeaway: iWork will finally be updated for Tahoe / iOS 26 at the end of January. It's buggy on the current OSes...

 

[code-m]

The free version as it is now does more that most people will ever want to do. Anyone that wants the app to create a presentation for them likely desires that because they’re unable to create a presentation, period. AI is just enough to bring those that can’t do, up to the level of rudimentary results, and that’s more than worth the price for them. They’re likely typing into their chatbot of choice, “Should I buy this and what card should I use?”

These tech companies always start with baby steps as to not cause the customer panic. Yes, your observation is true today but give it a couple years or more. I hope you are correct and it stays just as capable with the exception of AI.

 

[Unregistered 4U]

"...only Apple Creator Studio subscribers will receive access to some of the premium new AI features and content."

If this is for Logic - which I paid for the full version already - it's just another reason to look elsewhere than Apple for music software. Using Logic is the main thing that kept me from bolting when my 2017 imac and my still working iPhone stopped getting security updates. And after liquid glass and the last terrible update for macos, Ive had many regrets about staying with Apple.

But I'm not opposed to all subscriptions. I'd love to see them offer a subscription for security updates for older hardware. But that's something Apple will never do. They would rather see all those old machines turn into ewaste, and force us to buy their new products.

I feel Apple just views us all as nothing more than an endless money machines...

You would pay someone else for music software when the music software you have and know how to use will continue to work as it always have, just without AI features?

 

[CarAnalogy]

Yeah, other than subscription fatigue I don’t see how anyone can be upset about this.
Especially if you are in education or going to school, $2.99 a month for access to logic pro? I mean, come on. Has there ever been a better deal than that? GarageBand used to cost more, iLife used to be $99 for every yearly update.
Add the education rate of $30 a year, it would take you 10 years to even reach what FinalCut costs on its own.
And you get access to the iPad version, and you get all of the apps included, and you get family sharing with up to six people… and the standalone purchase options are still available?
I mean, if Apple had to go the subscription way, at least they’ve done it the right way. It’s not required, it’s not overly expensive, and it is a real value.
Let’s not forget that in the 2000s FinalCut Pro was $1000 on its own and every time a major update came out you had to purchase it once again.
Sometimes I think people are just so blinded by the Internet rage echo chamber that they forget how good we really have it these days. I mean, being able to get a full completely intact pro digital audio workstation, the same one used by actual professionals in the business, for the same price of one coffee a month?
Just 30 years ago a set up like that would cost not just thousands of dollars, but hundreds of thousands of dollars.

I generally agree. But the cup of coffee thing always bothers me. How much coffee are people drinking, and how expensive is this coffee, that people continually sacrifice cups of coffee to pay for things?

If this subscription approach is done right it can indeed be a legitimate alternative to piracy since in my day that's how the kids learned expensive software.

I think people are just afraid of the inevtiable enshirtification that comes once a product is a subscription. It changes the incentives.

 

[Unregistered 4U]

This actually looks very interesting indeed. Hopefully UK won’t be far behind getting it 😀

The UK will find the use of the Apple logo in these apps anticompetitive and monopolistic (because no one else is legally allowed to use Apple logos) and will forbid them from being released in the region unless Apple also releases them on Android, Windows, and Linux. 🙂

 

[Unregistered 4U]

While I don't love the shift to subscription, my concern is that charging around 20% of what Adobe's charging is a statement of intent from Apple regarding their future investment (or lack thereof) in these apps. Pricing it in the $30-40/month range would suggest that we're about to see another big push in pro app development, while the current pricing feels more like a cash grab on previously free/one-time-purchase items.

Wait, so $12.99 a month is a cash grab, but charging 2-3 times as much would NOT be a cash grab?

 

[Ethosik]

Subscriptions only exist to squeeze ever more money from customers.

Graph must always go up. We will no longer have perpetual licenses. Even Affinity will go subscription soon.

 

[Unregistered 4U]

I bought Final Cut Pro and Logic Pro YEARS ago one time purchase and so many updates. Now they want $129/yr for that? Let's see what "AI Features" and other features they throw in to make it worthy of a sub. Sad to see them go this route, but expected as people love paying subs. It's $12.99/mo / $129/yr NOW, check in with me in 5-6 years lol.

No, they don’t want $129/yr from you. Just continue to not pay like you always have. They’ll have two different app icons for the Mac, so they’re likely still making non-AI related updates to FCPX.