The popular photo tool is changing the business model. As a reason, the developers also refer to restrictions in Apple’s App Store.
Pixelmator Photo is now only available as a subscription: The iPad and iPhone app for post-processing photos now costs EUR 5.50 per month, as the developer team announced on Thursday – for a long time this was the price for a one-time purchase of the app , last time it was 8 euros. Pixelmator Photo is also available as an annual subscription for 27 euros. As an alternative to the subscription, the developers are offering a new “lifetime” option, which corresponds to the old one-time purchase and costs 55 euros.
Existing customers can continue to use the app
Existing customers who have purchased Pixelmator Photo in the past get “unlimited access” for free and do not have to take out a subscription, as the Pixelmator team pointed out . Pixelmator Photo is primarily intended for quick post-processing of photos and offers various tools that rely on machine learning. Editing of recordings in many RAW formats is also supported.
The previous model for software sales, which relies on purely one-off purchases, quickly no longer pays off, write the developers. Even a delayed update can lead to problems if it doesn’t bring in enough new buyers. In addition, you have to hold back and save the best functions in order to offer them bundled in major updates and thereby generate as much attention and new buyers as possible.
Apple’s restrictions on software sales in the App Store have also been criticized: You can’t offer lower upgrade prices for loyal existing customers and it’s not easy to provide free trial versions – outside of subscriptions. In addition, the price level for mobile apps is simply too low to be sustainable. The entire landscape is changing and shifting towards subscription, the developers note.
Pixelmator Photo is coming to the Mac
Pixelmator Photo is also slated to come to Mac late this year or early 2023. The subscription will then include all three app versions in the future. For new subscribers, however, the price of the subscription will increase with the release of the Mac version, the developers explain. For previous buyers of the iOS app, there should be a discount on the subscription to the Mac version. The announcement leaves open what business plans the provider has for its Pixelmator Pro image editing program.
