Adobe’s Baggage

In a recent post on his blog, John Nack asked; Affinity Photo on iPad: Will anyone care?

I and a few others posted comments. My response:

I know I do. Over the past year I’ve shifted most of my work over to iPad. I manage 15+ client websites using Coda. On the Mac I’d been shifting most of my non-InDesign work over to Affinity Designer and Photo. I almost never open Photoshop or Illustrator anymore. Affinity Photo is the real deal which is to say, it has most of the features found on the Mac version and can be interchanged from iPad to Mac and back. I bought it immediately and have already used it for several client projects with great delight.

So, yes, some of us do. And really, having a look at iOS 11 it seems pretty clear that Apple’s intent is to keep going with the iPad. They’re deepening their investment and I suspect that as the months roll by many more users will begin delving deeper into it’s capabilities. When Affinity Designer is released I’ll buy it immediately. I’d pay them double what they will likely be asking for it. I’ll use it on this big, beautiful iPad to earn my living.

As much as I’ve enjoyed using my Macs for the past 24 years I now use this new kind of “Mac” that Apple calls the iPad. No going back.

He was kind enough to respond:

Thanks for the perspective. I don’t doubt that you & other professionals would pay double without hesitation, but for a company like Adobe, even that (in this case $26, which is what they’d gross from a $40 sale after Apple takes its cut) just isn’t interesting. Making eight figures with Photoshop Touch wasn’t interesting. They’re going to need that amount or more from you every month in order to justify developing a suite of apps. Now, maybe folks like Affinity can be a lot more nimble and lean, and maybe that’ll be enough. As I say, we shall continue to see.

Really? Really? I guess this confirms my thoughts about Adobe: baggage that is best left behind. They’ve built a monolithic business with a lot of weight and apparently they can’t be bothered. I’ll happily support the fine folks at Serif and encourage you do give Affinity Photo a try.