“Adobe Systems may have just experienced a bad case of deja vu. On Wednesday, Apple Computer introduced Aperture, new digital-image-editing software targeted at professional photographers,” Troy Wolverton reports for TheStreet.com. “Although Apple touted the fact that the new program will work well with Photoshop, Adobe’s program that dominates the photo-editing market, the new software has the potential to carve into Adobe’s cash cow.”

Wolverton reports, “Adobe has been here before. Microsoft, for instance, recently announced a new suite of programs aimed at design professionals, Adobe’s central market. But, perhaps more pertinently, earlier this decade Apple displaced Adobe in the digital-video-editing market when it introduced a rival program.”

“Like most of Apple’s software, Aperture will only work on the company’s Macintosh computers. Sales of Photoshop for the Macintosh have declined in recent years as a portion of total Photoshop sales, according to data from NPD Group,” Wolverton reports. “But in the year to date, the Mac version of Photoshop still accounted for nearly 27% of total Photoshop sales, according to NPD. Its announcement Wednesday makes it clear that it wants a piece of that action. And it has every reason to believe that it will get it.”

Wolverton reports, “What has to worry Adobe further is its history in the digital-video-editing segment, Swenson says. In the late 1990s, the company’s Premiere program dominated the market for video-editing programs under $1,000. But Apple’s Final Cut program, which the computer company introduced in 1999, changed all that. Apple had taken away such a significant chunk of Adobe’s business on the Mac that by 2002, Adobe stopped making Premiere for Apple computers. Now Apple now has about a third of the market for professional video-editing software, according to Swenson.”

Full article here.

Advertisement: Introducing Aperture. Designed for professional photographers. $499. Free shipping.

MacDailyNews Take: As people who’ve used Photoshop, Premiere, and Final Cut Pro extensively:
• You can have our copy of Photoshop right after you convince us to switch from Mac OS X to Windows XP. In other words, Photoshop ain’t goin’ nowhere; it’s staying right where it is, on our Macs.
• Premiere was so out-classed by even the 1.0 version of Final Cut Pro that is was no contest. Professionals buy very serious Macs just so they can run Apple’s Mac-only Pro applications.
• Final Cut Pro is an excellent, best-in-class application. We even prefer it over very high-end non-linear editing products from Avid.
• We will add Aperture to our Dock, not replace Photoshop with it. Each application does different things. They can be complementary to each other.
• If this forces Adobe to innovate Photoshop faster and rethink some ideas, so much the better for both Apple and Adobe.

Related MacDailyNews articles:
Apple’s revolutionary new Aperture software a must have for every professional photographer – October 19, 2005
Apple introduces Aperture, first all-in-one post production tool for photographers – October 19, 2005