And so it’s finally done. In one fail swoop, Apple has killed development of both its consumer and pro photo editing suites on OS X – iPhoto and Aperture. Apple had previewed the upcoming Photos app at the recent WWDC. The new Photos app for OS X isn’t due to land on Macs until next year, so users will have to stick with the current iPhoto and Aperture till then, or look for third party alternatives. iPhoto has been a long-standing photo editing app on Macs for the past decade.
Official statement on The Loop:
“With the introduction of the new Photos app and iCloud Photo Library, enabling you to safely store all of your photos in iCloud and access them from anywhere, there will be no new development of Aperture.”
When Photos for OS X ships next year, users will be able to migrate their existing Aperture libraries to Photos for OS.”
When OS X Yosemite ships this fall, Apple will officially stop development of Aperture. The move to kill development on Aperture will no doubt frustrate pro users, another sign Apple doesn’t care as much for the pro market as much as it does the more lucrative consumer market. Final Cut Pro has been mostly ignored, similarly Logic Pro, although both remain available to users.
After being an iPhoto users since version 1.0, I moved to Aperture about two years ago. I decided on the big move to Adobe Lightroom last year, and I think I’ve made the right decision.
Adobe has recently released Lightroom Mobile, as well as the latest Creative Cloud suite, reflecting its focus on the mobile (smartphone and tablet) market without alienating its core desktop customers.
Can Apple do the same?
How will a ‘merged’ Photos app fare as the only photo editing app for consumers and pros?
Are you an iPhoto or Aperture user? What do you think?
Source: Cult of Mac, Photo credit: The Loop
