Apple acquires the team behind Pixelmator Pro
In a surprise Friday announcement, Pixelmator, the team behind the Mac image editing app, announced that it is being acquired by Apple.
Pixelmator - Image credit: Pixelmator
Posted to the company's blog on Friday, Pixelmator shares the news that it has been picked up by Apple. The acquisition, the terms of which are unknown, brings the Pixelmator, Pixelmator Pro, and Photomator apps under Apple's ownership.
The team has signed an agreement for acquisition, but it still needs to receive regulatory approval before it completes.
While many apps have been acquired and incorporated into Apple's existing ecosystem previously, Pixelmator insists that won't immediately be the case here. There will be "no material changes" to the apps "at this time."
Pixelmator Pro is sold in the Mac App Store for $49.99 with a once-time purchase. Photomator is sold for $79.99 as a lifetime offer, $7.99 per month, or $29.99 per year.
In theory, Pixelmator slots comfortably into Apple's collection of creative apps for professionals. With Final Cut Pro handling video and Logic Pro for producing music, Pixelmator fills the image-editing gap.
"We've been inspired by Apple since day one, crafting our products with the same razor-sharp focus on design, ease of use, and performance," the post reads. "And looking back, it's crazy what a small group of dedicated people have been able to achieve over the years from all the way in Vilnius, Lithuania."
The team says it will have the ability to reach a much wider audience, and to "make a bigger impact on the lives of creative people around the world."
The blog post concludes with a thanks to its users, who have supported Pixelmator for 17 years. It ends "As we step into this exciting new chapter, we can't wait to share what's next."
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Comments
And the Lugens will be first picks for the Apple intramural basketball squad.
(Lugen is Lithuanian slang for Lithuanians, who tend to be tall, good looking and really good at Bball. Not lügen, which is to lie in German. If you grew up in the Chicago area you probably know this.
Unfortunately, based on Photos and the push for Apple Intelligence, Apple will likely focus on the wrong features and it will be their way or the highway. They'll decide as always, they know better than the user. There is no point in all the AI stuff that Photos incorporates when its automated Collections chop the heads and feet off in portrait format images.
Pixelmator Pro and Photomator have had solid updates at regular periods, Apple updates its apps at a glacial pace. Sadly, I can see another great app getting destroyed.
What would be the advantage of taking the technology off the market?
Lithuania is 34/180 on the corruption index. The United States are 24/180.
I wonder if Lithuania should be doing business with Americans.
Somewhat recently, I found a few bugs that only affected esoteric things for me (like restoring scanned black and white negatives using Pixelmator Pro) which were squashed by Pixelmator staff in a very interactive way with me (rapid email exchanges)...and fast. They really care about their product and their customers/users. I think that is reflected in the frequent updates to Pixelmator Pro.
I hope that Apple retains the staff and the culture behind Pixelmator Pro. Don't fix what isn't broken.
And, a thank you to the Pixelmator company and their employees for building and growing the features of Pixelmator Pro. I hope you will keep up the good work with the potential additional resources that should be available from Apple.
For those of you who haven't used Pixelmator Pro, I'd try it out as a replacement for the discontinued Aperture. Once Pixelmator and Photos are tightly integrated, it should be a pro-level replacement for just about any photographer.