The developer of the Pixelmator household of image-editing functions for Mac, iPad, and iPhone introduced Friday that the corporate has been acquired by Apple.
The transfer leaves the various followers of the apps nervous in regards to the destiny of the software program.
Pixelmator acquired by Apple
Pixelmator Staff makes Pixelmator Professional for Mac, plus Pixelmator and Photomator for iPhone and iPad. Because the developer says, these are “designed to take advantage of highly effective skilled picture modifying instruments accessible to everybody.”
Whereas not as feature-rich because the rival functions from the likes of Adobe, these apps are significantly extra inexpensive. The costliest is Pixelmator Professional at $49.99. Pixelmator for iPad prices solely $9.99.
However Friday introduced an enormous shift. The corporate weblog introduced, “Pixelmator has signed an settlement to be acquired by Apple, topic to regulatory approval.”
Excellent news or unhealthy information?
The event staff’s announcement weren’t on to say, “There will likely be no materials modifications to the Pixelmator Professional, Pixelmator for iOS, and Photomator apps right now.”
Nonetheless, customers of the corporate’s functions are understandably nervous about their long-term prospects.
A worst case situation is that Apple will merge a number of the options of Pixelmator into its current Photographs utility and toss out the remaining. For instance, the third-party app’s Restore instrument is noticeably superior to the same one not too long ago added to Photographs. Theoretically, the entire purpose for the acquisition might be so Apple might combine simply that one characteristic into its software program.
Luckily, that’s not the one possibility. And maybe not the almost certainly, as a result of Apple acquired standard third-party functions prior to now and didn’t kill them.
There’s no higher instance than Shazam. Apple acquired the music-recognition app in 2018 and built-in it into its gadgets. However it’s additionally nonetheless a standalone utility.
Or there’s Darkish Sky Climate, which Apple acquired in 2020. This primarily changed the iPhone’s climate app. So whereas the identify modified, the performance lives on.
However solely time can inform what occurs with Pixelmator.