6 Months Since Aperture (& iPhotos) Death

[colorspace]

Tomorrow marks exactly six months since Apple announced the death of Aperture and iPhoto. Half a year, 26 weeks, and what do we know about their replacement -- Photos, nothing, zilch! Apparently no one outside of Cupertino has seen it, and no one at Apple is say anything!

When you are a serious doing anything on a computer -- photography, music, writing, video, or software development, the software that you get in bed with becomes part of a relationship. If your partner goes out for a pack of cigarettes and is still nowhere to be found after 6 months, the relationship is dead, or at the very least should be!

IMHO I think we have passed, quite a while back, a threshold where any serious photographer can have any trust in Apple to have their back, and even if Photos turns out to be a great product with lot of potential, it will be a still-born product for pro and serious amateurs and only adopted casual users and newbies to the art.

If this hadn't been such a HUGE PITA for me, it would really be humorous to see how Apple has handled this. Now at best I how Apple has handled the "transition" will make a good case study for business students somewhere.

 

[MCAsan]

The iPhone killed Aperture. The serious money is in the phones and basic snapshot processing is a big part of that. Art photography is too small for Apple to continue with it. Now that is something the MBAs can understand.

 

[JDDavis]

I'm still clinging to hope for an Aperture-esque solution from Apple. I do feel that Aperture is starting to lag a little bit in capability (that I require...which is not a whole lot). I've started to use Capture NXD for some RAW processing. I think it handles some images better than Aperture from the D750. I'm also relying more heavily on NIK plugins for editing than Aperture. I still rely 100% on Aperture for DAM.

If Photos retains an Aperture like DAM capability, access to plugins, and is open to third party developers than I will be satisfied. Meanwhile my long term relationship with Aperture is growing a bit colder.

 

[colorspace]

The iPhone killed Aperture. The serious money is in the phones and basic snapshot processing is a big part of that. Art photography is too small for Apple to continue with it. Now that is something the MBAs can understand.

That's a tricky and dangerous game to play for Apple. You might be too young to remember, but definitely during one long period, but really on two periods, the ONLY thing that kept Apple in business was the dedication and loyalty of Pro users of the artsy/graphics type. Apple won their loyalty by producing an OS and applications that took this aesthetic and functionality into account. This kept art users loyal during the lean years and in return allowed Apple to produce a clean a beautiful work environment that later attracted the masses.

The truth is that Mac OS is having its core advantage eroded year after year, and I think that giving up of its pro users (see not only Aperture, but Final Cut Fiasco, lack of higher color bit monitors, etc), will leave it in a very weak position once market forces or fads inevitably shifts those masses on to other systems. Folks like me will find it much, much easier to simply take their Lightroom or Premier and simply move to Windows.

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Meanwhile my long term relationship with Aperture is growing a bit colder.

Well it is a corpse after all

 

[skaeight]

That's a tricky and dangerous game to play for Apple. You might be too young to remember, but definitely during one long period, but really on two periods, the ONLY thing that kept Apple in business was the dedication and loyalty of Pro users of the artsy/graphics type. Apple won their loyalty by producing an OS and applications that took this aesthetic and functionality into account. This kept art users loyal during the lean years and in return allowed Apple to produce a clean a beautiful work environment that later attracted the masses.

The truth is that Mac OS is having its core advantage eroded year after year, and I think that giving up of its pro users (see not only Aperture, but Final Cut Fiasco, lack of higher color bit monitors, etc), will leave it in a very weak position once market forces or fads inevitably shifts those masses on to other systems. Folks like me will find it much, much easier to simply take their Lightroom or Premier and simply move to Windows.

Apple isn't that company anymore (fortunately or unfortunately, not sure which - they might not be here if they hadn't made the change). I love my iPhone and iPad, but they've changed their focus. They make almost all of their money from iPhones, not Mac Pros. That's where they're going to put their focus. That's why they're coming out with a watch. It's a similarly priced gadget that they can sell to the mass market.

 

[colorspace]

Apple isn't that company anymore (fortunately or unfortunately, not sure which - they might not be here if they hadn't made the change). I love my iPhone and iPad, but they've changed their focus. They make almost all of their money from iPhones, not Mac Pros. That's where they're going to put their focus. That's why they're coming out with a watch. It's a similarly priced gadget that they can sell to the mass market.

Again, not good long term strategy I think. Pro apps are relatively cheap to develop and maintain... especially one you have come out with a super expensive new Mac Pro. Right now I see some of my high-end faculty purchasing these for genome-type computation or computer models, but very, very few by videographers and photographers.

If Apple want to become a Japanese teen-girl fad company ONLY and not maintain a hard-core loyal following of some sort... well I think at some point it will bite them in the @$$. Mercedes Benz is probably good analog, they have certainly broadened downwards in the past few years, but not at the cost of dumping their core clientele (and BTW this is in large part the attraction for lower end users being "in"). Apple is still playing the marketing game of be like "us" look at the amazing creative things we are doing to market the masses, but at the same time largely shunning the creative crowd.

 

[VirtualRain]

I think this transition says more about some Apple customers than it does about Apple. I can understand everything Apple has said and is doing. What I don't understand is the irrational behaviour on the part of some customers.

To explain... Unlike Apple of old that would keep everyone in the dark, in this case they actually gave everyone many months notice of what their roadmap was for photography apps. They even showed mockups/demo of a very capable app and answered at least one question following the announcement confirming plugin support. They said it would arrive in early 2015... Being intentionally vague because software development is not that predictable. We are not yet at the end of what might be considered early 2015.

To use your analogy, it's like your partner has gone out for cigarettes, saying they would be back in 30min, but you've called the police 25min after they left. They will be back, likely when they said they would, if not a tad bit late. And if they are late, it's probably for a good reason. There is currently no need for an over-reaction.

On top of this, it's not like Apple broke Aperture, leaving you with a highly crippled app to tie you over. No. In fact, they patched it in the fall to ensure you could keep using it on Yosemite while they finish up work on the new app. Aperture still works just as well today as it ever did.

Anyway, we will likely get exactly what was promised when it was promised.

 

[maflynn]

The iPhone killed Aperture. .

No, I think what killed Aperture was apple's lack of insight on this product. Apple beat Adobe out the door with their product, they could have continued to improve the product but instead the time between major updates continued to grow.

They could have used the iPhone to extend the power and ability of Aperture like what Adobe is now doing with LR.

 

[JDDavis]

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Well it is a corpse after all

Weekend at Aperture's?

 

[JDDavis]

No, I think what killed Aperture was apple's lack of insight on this product. Apple beat Adobe out the door with their product, they could have continued to improve the product but instead the time between major updates continued to grow.

They could have used the iPhone to extend the power and ability of Aperture like what Adobe is now doing with LR.

Maybe...maybe, this is where we are headed with Photos. I still like Aperture. I still do not like LR. I don't think that will change. It's personal preference. I think Apple has clearly fallen behind the competition in this arena after being out in front. Maybe Photos will be big jump ahead again and there was no way to do it with Aperture.

I've gotten to where I do a lot of photography "stuff" on my laptop, iphone, and ipad. I would be pretty happy about a program/app that unified all of them (like what Adobe is doing). Photos in IOS has gotten better and has some better tools now. I think we can see that "Photos" will probably unify OS, IOS, and the iCloud. I doubt it will be a professional app or even geared towards "prosumers". I hope it retains an Aperture like DAM and allows "Pro" plugins. If it allows me to manage my photos across all devices and online, of course maintains RAW processing and non-destructive edits, and allows me to "send" images to Pro plugins simply then I'd be pretty happy. I won't need Photos to be a pro level image editor (though it would be nice).

 

[jms969]

The truth is that Mac OS is having its core advantage eroded year after year, and I think that giving up of its pro users (see not only Aperture, but Final Cut Fiasco, lack of higher color bit monitors, etc), will leave it in a very weak position once market forces or fads inevitably shifts those masses on to other systems. Folks like me will find it much, much easier to simply take their Lightroom or Premier and simply move to Windows.

That is what I am in the process of doing as we speak... Windows 10 looks amazing btw WOW.

The cool thing is (even for crappy win 8.1) wifi simply works (yup a shot at Yosemite) and transitioning LR from an OSX platform to a Win 8.1 platform was trivial. lost me on their computers, when it is time to upgrade my iphone they will have lost me there as well...

And yes fairly quickly I will not post here any further as well...

 

[MCAsan]

No, I think what killed Aperture was apple's lack of insight on this product. Apple beat Adobe out the door with their product, they could have continued to improve the product but instead the time between major updates continued to grow.

They could have used the iPhone to extend the power and ability of Aperture like what Adobe is now doing with LR.

I disagree. The serious money is not in beating Adobe at anything. The serious money is in beating Samsung at personal devices like smartphones. Apple is not driven by photographers; it is driven by a mix of good accounting and marketing. The stockholders and analysts could care less Aperture.

 

[Razeus]

I've said this repeatedly, and I'll continue to say it:

Do not depend on Apple for your serious photography needs. Go to a company who makes it their bread and butter to do this stuff.

 

[jms969]

I've said this repeatedly, and I'll continue to say it:

Do not depend on Apple for your serious photography needs. Go to a company who makes it their bread and butter to do this stuff.

Truer words have never been spoken

 

[robgendreau]

I've said this repeatedly, and I'll continue to say it:

Do not depend on Apple for your serious photography needs. Go to a company who makes it their bread and butter to do this stuff.

I sort of agree. And basically so does most of the graphics world. I suppose there are probably quite a few solo business owners who use Aperture, but I'd bet Adobe has the rest sewn up, just as PS is the standard for image editing. That isn't gonna change.

But all those millions of iPhone snapshot takers do consider that serious photography, in that many of those photos are as important to them as any photo is to any pro. Sometimes more so. I can't fault Apple for prioritizing the needs of those folk, but I do fault them for ignoring the niche market they developed with Aperture. I think those users have more of a positive impact than Apple realizes.

And yeah, Windows 10 may leap ahead. I think the retina iMac is the best photo machine out there right now, but when you use PS and LR and DxO and whatnot you don't really notice much which hardware you're running on. Add to that the irony that Photosmith with LR and LR Mobile work better with the iOS devices than Aperture, and that you can even run LR on a Windows tablet, and you see how far Apple is slipping.

 

[colorspace]

Weekend at Aperture's?

AWESOME!! I think this hits the nail square on the head. Aperture is dead, but still available for some good times.

 

[v3rlon]

Aperture still works just fine. I would love to know more about photos than I can see on my iPhone and iCloud accounts, but "early 2015" is still going strong. I BELIEVE we will hear something by March 31, 2015 23:59:59 Cupertino time.

Be patient - or not. Its up to you.

Apple makes just over half their money on iPhone sales. That was in their announcement today. Macs make up ~10%. 10% is $3.8 BILLION so I am pretty sure they will see about keeping that coming in. I could sure use an extra $3.8 billion in the next 3 months.

If your wifi doesn't 'just work' on any platform (Mac/Windows/Linux/Chrome), you are doing something wrong or your router is defective. Possibly your BT/Wifi card is defective.

 

[skaeight]

Aperture still works just fine. I would love to know more about photos than I can see on my iPhone and iCloud accounts, but "early 2015" is still going strong. I BELIEVE we will hear something by March 31, 2015 23:59:59 Cupertino time.

Be patient - or not. Its up to you.

Apple makes just over half their money on iPhone sales. That was in their announcement today. Macs make up ~10%. 10% is $3.8 BILLION so I am pretty sure they will see about keeping that coming in. I could sure use an extra $3.8 billion in the next 3 months.

If your wifi doesn't 'just work' on any platform (Mac/Windows/Linux/Chrome), you are doing something wrong or your router is defective. Possibly your BT/Wifi card is defective.

Sorry, at best it's looking like it's end of April:

http://9to5mac.com/2015/01/27/photos-for-mac-removed-from-apple-website/

Also there were some well know Yosemite bugs that were hopefully fixed yesterday with 10.10.2 - I've seen them in several different macs, including a brand new Retina IMac.

 

[maflynn]

I disagree. The serious money is not in beating Adobe at anything. The serious money is in beating Samsung at personal devices like smartphones. Apple is not driven by photographers; it is driven by a mix of good accounting and marketing. The stockholders and analysts could care less Aperture.

You missed my point, they already beat Adobe, they could have continued to produce an up to date product and that would have kept photographers from abandoning Aperture. They didn't have to do anything different other then improving the product regularly. They chose not to do that.

 

[jms969]

You missed my point, they already beat Adobe, they could have continued to produce an up to date product and that would have kept photographers from abandoning Aperture. They didn't have to do anything different other then improving the product regularly. They chose not to do that.

Realistically they should have transferred the right to Aperture to the Pixelmator guys and let them run with it...

 

[JDDavis]

Realistically they should have transferred the right to Aperture to the Pixelmator guys and let them run with it...

For me, I would've loved it if Apple had brought in the NIK crew instead of letting Google snap them up. An Aperture / NIK mashup would've been awesome! Apple has a history of buying up smaller firms for thier tech and talent but I guess they are just not that interested in this arena. I realize it's not a huge market but I think they are missing out on another "halo" market that would bring more users to thier hardware. A top notch photo management / editing solution would keep photog users on thier hardware and attract new ones. I don't think that would be a big investment for Apple given thier bottom line.

I'll still hold out on judging Photos until we see it.

 

[jms969]

For me, I would've loved it if Apple had brought in the NIK crew instead of letting Google snap them up. An Aperture / NIK mashup would've been awesome! Apple has a history of buying up smaller firms for thier tech and talent but I guess they are just not that interested in this arena. I realize it's not a huge market but I think they are missing out on another "halo" market that would bring more users to thier hardware. A top notch photo management / editing solution would keep photog users on thier hardware and attract new ones. I don't think that would be a big investment for Apple given thier bottom line.

I'll still hold out on judging Photos until we see it.

Here is the latest from 9to5 on Photos

Looks like the Photos app is vaporware

Apple seemingly crops Photos for Mac out of early 2015, takes eraser tool to Apple.com

Apple has made a small but significant change to its website that could spell bad news for those eagerly awaiting the release of the company’s new Photos app for OS X.

Every single mention of the software has been scrubbed from Apple.com, save for a single help article that now lists the app as being “available at a later date.” A page dedicated to Apple’s Photos app on iOS and iCloud as well as the Continuity page have both been updated to remove references to the software.

The app was supposed to ship in “early 2015″ like the Apple Watch, but while the wearable device is now confirmed for an April launch, the Photos app has gotten little to no press since the original announcement. The recent changes to the website could indicate that the release has been pushed back even further.

At the time of the Photos release, iPhoto and Aperture were both scheduled to be discontinued. Competitors like Adobe have already started putting plans in place to help users transfer their photo libraries into Lightroom.

Meanwhile, Apple has continued to expand the feature set for its web-based iCloud Photos app, adding support for uploading new photos, as well as tweaks like the ability to zoom in on images. That service is intended to function as a stopgap until the native app is released.

We’ve reached out to Apple to find out if there’s a new timeframe for the app’s release.

http://9to5mac.com/2015/01/27/photos-for-mac-removed-from-apple-website/

 

[Razeus]

Sorry, at best it's looking like it's end of April:

http://9to5mac.com/2015/01/27/photos-for-mac-removed-from-apple-website/

Also there were some well know Yosemite bugs that were hopefully fixed yesterday with 10.10.2 - I've seen them in several different macs, including a brand new Retina IMac.

Seems like Apple can't even complete basic software rollouts anymore. Alot of these features are already built but Apple is acting like they are building from scratch.

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For me, I would've loved it if Apple had brought in the NIK crew instead of letting Google snap them up. An Aperture / NIK mashup would've been awesome! Apple has a history of buying up smaller firms for thier tech and talent but I guess they are just not that interested in this arena. I realize it's not a huge market but I think they are missing out on another "halo" market that would bring more users to thier hardware. A top notch photo management / editing solution would keep photog users on thier hardware and attract new ones. I don't think that would be a big investment for Apple given thier bottom line.

I'll still hold out on judging Photos until we see it.

Yep. Apple needs to realize people will soon begin to see they don't need powerful rMBP's to do basic tasks on the internet. The pro's will soon realize Apple is not in the business of pro level software and go elsewhere.

I've told some of you before that Apple is in the Soccer Mom Software business now. They've been showing us pros and serious amateurs the door for a while now. Take the hint.

 

[v3rlon]

Apple has made a small but significant change to its website that COULD spell bad news for those eagerly awaiting the release of the company’s new Photos app for OS X.

Every single mention of the software has been scrubbed from Apple.com, save for a single help article that now lists the app as being “available at a later date.” A page dedicated to Apple’s Photos app on iOS and iCloud as well as the Continuity page have both been updated to remove references to the software.

The app was supposed to ship in “early 2015″ like the Apple Watch, but while the wearable device is now confirmed for an April launch, the Photos app has gotten little to no press since the original announcement. The recent changes to the website could indicate that the release has been pushed back even further.

At the time of the Photos release, iPhoto and Aperture were both scheduled to be discontinued. Competitors like Adobe have already started putting plans in place to help users transfer their photo libraries into Lightroom.

Meanwhile, Apple has continued to expand the feature set for its web-based iCloud Photos app, adding support for uploading new photos, as well as tweaks like the ability to zoom in on images. That service is intended to function as a stopgap until the native app is released.

We’ve reached out to Apple to find out if there’s a new timeframe for the app’s release.


So, what the article is saying is that "Apple changed the website removing references to Photos in many places, and they didn't say why. We still do not know anything."

1. Apple pulled photos from iCloud briefly, but now its back.
2. They could be pulling it down from the website to replace 'coming soon' with 'here now'
3. The fact that they are ADDING features to the cloud app (however weak) indicates that Photos is not being abandoned.

Or you could be right. I don't know anything about the release date either, and it is frustrating.

 

[colorspace]

Thanks for the link to the article -- important info to have. Looks like Franco might be dead of for a full year before they replace him ;-)

Apple has made a small but significant change to its website that COULD spell bad news for those eagerly awaiting the release of the company’s new Photos app for OS X.

Every single mention of the software has been scrubbed from Apple.com, save for a single help article that now lists the app as being “available at a later date.” A page dedicated to Apple’s Photos app on iOS and iCloud as well as the Continuity page have both been updated to remove references to the software.

The app was supposed to ship in “early 2015″ like the Apple Watch, but while the wearable device is now confirmed for an April launch, the Photos app has gotten little to no press since the original announcement. The recent changes to the website could indicate that the release has been pushed back even further.

At the time of the Photos release, iPhoto and Aperture were both scheduled to be discontinued. Competitors like Adobe have already started putting plans in place to help users transfer their photo libraries into Lightroom.

Meanwhile, Apple has continued to expand the feature set for its web-based iCloud Photos app, adding support for uploading new photos, as well as tweaks like the ability to zoom in on images. That service is intended to function as a stopgap until the native app is released.

We’ve reached out to Apple to find out if there’s a new timeframe for the app’s release.


So, what the article is saying is that "Apple changed the website removing references to Photos in many places, and they didn't say why. We still do not know anything."

1. Apple pulled photos from iCloud briefly, but now its back.
2. They could be pulling it down from the website to replace 'coming soon' with 'here now'
3. The fact that they are ADDING features to the cloud app (however weak) indicates that Photos is not being abandoned.

Or you could be right. I don't know anything about the release date either, and it is frustrating.

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Also there were some well know Yosemite bugs that were hopefully fixed yesterday with 10.10.2 - I've seen them in several different macs, including a brand new Retina IMac.

Give the (literally) hundreds of problems I personally saw at our College with initial roll out of Yose, how well publicized these have been, and how 10.1 addressed some but not all of the problems... he much have said this about wifi in a tongue in cheek way, no?