Columns

However, Apple knew that both products would be covered by the same group of blogs, websites and print media. It knew that publications aimed at Mac users and professional photographers would cover Express because of the Photoshop brand, and it knew that it could put a dent in that coverage by releasing Aperture 2.1. And that, for a publicity obsessed company, which has discovered just how powerful a weapon brand image can be, was enough.

It's not as if Aperture is a minor bug fix or the addition of a few new features. It changes the game for Aperture users completely. Until now it's

ADVERTISEMENT

been a workflow tool but with the advent of the new plug-in architecture, Aperture may eventually become a one-stop shop for photography professionals.

The update includes an example plug-in, Dodge & Burn, but this is just the start. Photoshop plug-in developers, such as Nik Software, have already announced Aperture-compatible plug-ins. It has the potential to do for Apple in the photography market what Final Cut Pro has done for it in video. As Aperture product chief Joe Schorr commented: 'We want there to be no limitations on what you can build in Aperture.'

Even if Apple does take a sizeable chunk of the professional photography market, it's unlikely that Adobe will repeat what it did in the video space where it pulled the Mac version of Premiere for four years.

Photoshop has long since become more than a photographer's tool. And it has its own Aperture competitor in Lightroom.

Apple may have won a minor publicity victory but Adobe will respond robustly when Lightroom 2 eventually ships. In the process Mac-using photographers will gain powerful and exciting new tools - and these may just persuade some of their PC-using colleagues to jump ship.