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Some Apple Apps Will No Longer Receive Every New Feature Without a Subscription

Good luck with this Apple. I really miss Steve Jobs, and looking forward to the retirement of Tim the bean counter. There are only two reasons anyone even uses the Apple bloatware to begin with.

1. It’s free, or used to be.
2. MS Office is missing features on the mobile and Apple platforms.

I predict a sharp drop in people using these apps.
 
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bondr006 said:
Good luck with this Apple. I really miss Steve Jobs, and looking forward to the retirement of Tim the bean counter. There are only two reasons anyone even uses the Apple bloatware to begin with.

1. It’s free, or used to be.
2. MS Office is missing features on the mobile and Apple platforms.

I predict a sharp drop in people using these apps.
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Agreed.

It feels like one day folks are going to poke their heads up and realize Apple became no different than any of the others.
 
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Did people forget iWork and iLife? Lol we used to pay for all those software: iMovie, Keynote, GarageBand, etc. so I guess it makes sense. and Final Cut has been such a steal for people that bought it 10-5 years ago, I don't think any other professional software has had one reasonable one-time payment and forever years of free updates lol
 
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kalafalas said:
Keeping the core app and its main features one-time-fee and then locking some ultra-premium AI focused stuff behind a subscription honestly seems fine to me. The only issue I have is we know this is a soft launch, and it’s within their power to move some core features behind the subscription, and that will be a ****** day indeed.
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I need Microslop Office (non-subscription copy) for work but had been planning to switch to iWork for personal stuff in the run-up to my retirement in a couple of years. The potential issue you mention is probably enough to convince me to stay with Office.

As mentioned yesterday, I've put off getting a new iPhone and Mac Mini because I don't want to upgrade to Liquid Glass and I'm not the only one, so the new OS is actually costing Apple hardware sales. Now this announcement will discourage users like me from switching to iWork. See a pattern developing here, Cupertino?
 
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Mainsail said:
So, going forward, will you not get a free version of iWork, iMovie, Freeform, and Garage Band when you purchase a new Mac, iPad, or iPhone? I wonder what that will do to hardware sales? Apple might be stepping over dollars to pick-up dimes.

If they do provide free versions, Apple will need to do periodic bug and security fixes. Plus, at least some modest feature improvements, and it is going to need at least some AI integration or it will be completely outdated in a few years.

As a reference point, of my three adult children and three nieces/nephews (all in late 20s), 100% use AI for at least some portion of their document preparation and emails. There is no getting around it. In a few years, a productivity suite without at least some basic AI integration will be pretty much useless.
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At the risk of sound like an old man yelling at clouds, someone in their 20's should absolutely be able to create a document or an email by themselves, especially since publicly available LLMs are only a few years old. This makes me very sad for our future.
 
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Oh, Apple. What is happening to this once beloved 'Think Different' company.

Abolish software subscriptions. I will only buy apps if there is a one time purchase with a reasonable point upgrade path at no additional cost. I am happy to pay for a totally new version with added features, if I want them. I don't rent my music either. We are moving towards not owning anything. Steady revenue streams should be earned by putting out amazing products that people want to buy, not guaranteed by forcing a monthly payment, and for what?

Some of these developers aren't as amazing as they think they are. Pushing out rubbish and or lazy features to appear current, relevant and to warrant the monthly or yearly payments is not it either. Some developers (MoneyWell) don't even rollout out new features, their rationale for moving towards a subscription was to 'keep the developers paid', so pay us $50 a year to allow syncing even though direct-downloads (from major banks) has been broken for years, and with no significant (or any) updates for just as long. And this is just one example.
 
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tomtad said:
I shouldn't have to pay for a movie editor and music production software to access magic fill in Numbers

Surely there must be another way to just get the additional iWork features.
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Numbers has not been updated since last April ???
 
I be this is apple finding new revenue sources , since everyone wants them to allow side loading and not pay for outside links.
 
Contact_Feanor said:
Why? You can still use them AND they'll continue to receive updates. you just won't get access to free high quality images (which you didn't have access to before).
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I think it's a psychological thing: I expect to be nudged to use the "pro"* version very often, "why don't you upgrade and get the best features?".

*Except that Pages and Numbers are too way behind even LibreOffice, to really become worth a subscription any time soon. At which point I'd rather use a suite which at least allows me to share documents with everybody, while being feature-rich.

Also, the scheme is very predatory: if you consider Logic Pro and Final Cut Pro alone, maybe the subscription is a good value for the money, but I'm not a musician nor a film-maker so I would be paying for apps, no matter how good, which I'd never use.

Of course Apple could let pick and choose, with much lower prices for individual apps, instead of just selling the entire bundle. But they don't. How would you feel if iCloud, Music, TV+, Fitness+, News+ etc. were sold all together and only together? And there's no certainty that all the apps will receive the same attention.
 
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Well I was hoping to get a new Apple computer this or next year just for video editing.
I guess I just saved a ton of money which I will put for the PC (including editing exclusively on it) or other expenses.

I will never pay subscriptions for software. Ever.
 
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Someyoungguy said:
At the risk of sound like an old man yelling at clouds, someone in their 20's should absolutely be able to create a document or an email by themselves, especially since publicly available LLMs are only a few years old. This makes me very sad for our future.
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I get your point, but in defense of these young people, they all can create documents and emails on their own. They simply find it faster and more efficient to use AI to facilitate the creation.

I was talking to another young person (Stanford grad in comp science), and he finds AI extremely useful in his profession. Drastically improves his productivity. So, whether you are creating code or documents, I think AI is here to stay.

Us old timers might not like it, but I don’t think there is any going back. Again, just my opinion.
 
If you actually read Apple's press release, despite LPX being included in the creator studio app group and subscription, all the new features are still available to one-time-purchasers. For now, at least...
 
In the past you paid for soft like macos, iwork or ilife but you got beautiful physical boxes with discs, color manuals and software that worked from moment one. You always get excited and never disappointed. Your were happy paying for them. Now when you install a new os for a machine that cost thousands, you have to suffer for 3 or 4 months before they are useable and then next year, the nightmare begins again. If I had paid por macos tahoe I would have killed myself (suffering it, I know what I'm talking about)
 
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