Pixelmator takeover: How well will Apple integrate the popular tool?
Many Apple users love Pixelmator: the elegant app from Lithuania offers many features at an affordable price. Now Cupertino has made a move. What can we expect?
Pixelmator app: Very popular, but now there is uncertainty about what Apple is planning.
(Image: Apple)
The news hit the Apple scene unprepared: The Pixelmator team is selling its app of the same name to the iPhone manufacturer – and (almost) all developers are coming with it. However, the news from just under a month ago also caused uncertainty among users: Pixelmator is popular – as a Photoshop alternative on Mac, iPad and iPhone, similar to the pure photo editor Photomator –. People therefore don't want Apple to "mess up" here, deprive users of functions and ultimately make the app worse. But how great is the danger really? A look at previous acquisitions and integrations of smaller companies by Apple shows that at least not everything is eaten as hot as it is cooked – and that Cupertino often manages to integrate such acquisitions better than the competition.
Apple integrates better than Microsoft or Google
When apps or functions are taken over by companies such as Microsoft, Google or Meta, users usually prepare themselves for the worst: Sometimes they continue to be operated for the time being, but often the corporations give them up completely after a foreseeable period of time. In some cases, the companies only want to buy in the talent: This is unsatisfactory from the user's point of view. Apple, on the other hand, has shown in the past that acquisitions "live on" in its own ecosystem – and even become central components of it. But here, too, there is sometimes criticism – when Apple later pays less attention to a purchase or overturns its strategy.
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Apple's best-known integrations include the iTunes music library (now the Music app), the Siri voice assistant and the Shortcuts environment. iTunes was once called SoundJam MP and came from Cassady & Greene, while Siri came from the US company of the same name, a spin-off of the SRI International research institute. Shortcuts, on the other hand, used to be called Workflow and showed Apple how to visually script iPhone & Co. All three of these products continue to exist in Apple's ecosystem and play an important role, even if they are by no means perfect.
Integration in Photos or own professional app with subscription?
There are now several options for the Pixelmator team. The Lithuanian company could continue its technology as a stand-alone app and have it financed by Apple – a bit like the Photos app or the iWork components, which are free for users. It would also be conceivable to integrate it directly into the Photos app in order to improve the editing functions there. However, this is likely to annoy professional Pixelmator users, as they don't like working with Apple Photos. Finally, Pixelmator could also be used as a professional app to complement Apple applications such as Logic (which was also once bought up) and Final Cut Pro and then be offered to users as an annual subscription.
It remains unclear how closely Apple will tie Pixelmator to itself. Subsidiaries such as Beats or Shazam have greater autonomy, but the Pixelmator team seems too small for that. What exactly the future holds has not yet been revealed. On November 1, the Pixelmator team only said that they now hope to reach an even larger audience and help creative people even more. Initially, Pixelmator and Photomator will remain the same, but this could of course change. Approval of the takeover by the regulatory authorities is considered likely, but has not yet been finalized.
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