Apple purchased Pixelmator earlier this fall, in a uncommon incidence of the corporate shopping for an present app. Although questions on its plans abound, taking a look at Apple’s app acquisition historical past factors to a vivid future forward for Pixelmator.

Apple has a powerful monitor report with acquired apps

John Gruber wrote this weekend on Daring Fireball about Apple’s historical past with app acquisitions.

The complete piece is properly price a learn, strolling by way of the varied outcomes for various acquisitions through the years.

Right here’s a superb abstract within the type of two excerpts:

The underside line is that what we, as customers, hope for after a giant firm acquires a beloved app is for an consequence the place the customers of that app stay blissful. That may imply simply protecting the app going, like with Logic. Or it’d imply scrapping the standalone app, however bringing the core options of the app into the OS itself, like with Darkish Sky. Typically it’s a mixture, although, like with Shazam.

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Apple is a really massive firm, and Pixelmator is a small firm with two very cool apps. However an examination of Apple’s acquisition historical past doesn’t give me any motive for alarm. Apple actually does are inclined to do proper by cool app acquisitions.

I used to be struck, in studying, by how a lot belief Apple deserves for its monitor report of app acquisitions.

The issue, any time a beloved app will get acquired by one other firm, is that these tales usually don’t finish properly.

• new homeowners could over-optimize for earnings and make the app worse within the course of
• or they might neglect the app altogether, content material with milking present income streams
• usually the artistic group behind the app departs, leaving a void the brand new homeowners can’t fill

These situations have performed out numerous instances, main many wonderful apps to turn out to be a shell of their former selves.

However Apple’s monitor report is totally totally different. As Gruber places it, “Apple respects the artwork of constructing nice apps,” and “Pixelmator specifically is just too good to scrap.”

I don’t know if Apple plans to maintain Pixelmator and Photomator operating as-is for years to return, or combine their tech into the Images app, or one thing else altogether.

However no matter their plans are, it’s good to do not forget that this isn’t identical to every other app acquisition within the tech world. Apple has a powerful monitor report on this space, and that factors to a vivid future for Pixelmator.

What do you suppose Apple’s plans for Pixelmator is likely to be? Tell us within the feedback.

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