Thoughts on Aperture's market share

[maflynn]

So what are folk's opinions and thoughts on aperture's market share especially in light of its lower app store price?

Has the reduction in price increased usage significantly?
Are people concerned that it may be losing critical mass for apple to keep it up? I mean its the lowest piece of "pro" software is apple losing interest?

Given the feature set that aperture offers vs. Lightroom, its fairly comparable but are people opting for LR because of the adobe name and/or update philosophy (more open and often it seems) or do you see more people embracing aperture because of the lower price

When I go on various forums for photography, I see a small but vocal aperture following, but a larger Lightroom user base.

I'm not trying to sound trollish, but I'd like to get the pulse of Aperture's user base, i.e., growing, shrinking, staying the same

 

[Cliff3]

http://blogs.adobe.com/jnack/2009/09/lightroom_vs_aperture_09.html

Market share data for 2010 hasn't been published yet. I doubt the effects of Apple's current app store pricing have moved the percentages much. Note that this survey's sample is taken from professional photographers. It might be interesting if they broadened it to include amateurs.

 

[maflynn]

Agreed, the survey is a little long in the tooth. given that its last year was 09, if fails to consider the impact of AP3 (and LR3).

I'm concerned that apple doesn't take aperture seriously, in so far as the slow update cycle, and the price cut. Is apple trying to reposition the application with a different customer, i.e, more of the amateur then the professional? Since it seems most professional photographers use LR?

Just random thoughts pop into my head.

As I stated, there are features I like in both apps, but if I was to pin down one killer feature I like in either package its the use of ACR in LR and categorization and organization in Aperture.

I find that I need a less post processing work on my photos in LR but organizing them takes more. I'm less pleased with the initial RAW rendering in Aperture but find organizing the images as noted to be much more efficient.

 

[rusty2192]

My guess is that with the new lower price, the marketshare for Aperture will go way up among amateurs. If I was looking at two pretty similar in functionality products (Aperture and Lightroom) and saw one was $299 and the other only $79, you can bet which one I'd go with.

For pros, I would assume (since I am not a pro) that this would be a smaller factor, since the $220 price difference is nothing compared to the workflow, time, etc of their app of choice.

 

[GuitarDTO]

http://blogs.adobe.com/jnack/2009/09/lightroom_vs_aperture_09.html

Market share data for 2010 hasn't been published yet. I doubt the effects of Apple's current app store pricing have moved the percentages much. Note that this survey's sample is taken from professional photographers. It might be interesting if they broadened it to include amateurs.

In addition, that article is on Adobe's site. Clearly biased towards lightroom. I have no bias against Lightroom, but I do think Aperture has a very large amateur following and I would be willing to bet that with the $80 price tag its gaining significant market share with the amateurs.

 

[Cliff3]

In addition, that article is on Adobe's site. Clearly biased towards lightroom. I have no bias against Lightroom, but I do think Aperture has a very large amateur following and I would be willing to bet that with the $80 price tag its gaining significant market share with the amateurs.

The information is published by the Photoshop product manager, however the market survey was performed by an independent firm called InfoTrends (http://www.infotrends.com/public/Content/Press/2011/02.17.2011.html). I am sure John Nack is far more pleased with the outcome of the survey than his opposite number at Apple.