I’m tired of subscriptions. Anybody else tired of subscriptions? That’s why I’ve always tried, whenever possible, to get software I can own. I purchase it, maybe buy an upgrade later on if I need those fancy new features, but after the initial outlay, my money stays in my wallet, where it belongs, and I can use the software for years. What used to be the norm, feels more and more like a distant memory.
As a creator working on Macs, I’ve always seen Apple’s own software as a kind of gateway drug: yeah their computers are expensive, but they're among the best laptops for graphic design. And the software is (mostly) excellent, cheap or even free - Apple could do that because they subsidise the software division through their hardware sales, making it a win-win for all.
The Good Old Days
Now, it’s true it wasn’t always like that. Back in the day, when Steve Jobs introduced iWork to us, we had to pay for new versions of Pages, Numbers, and Keynote. Then those apps came free with any new Mac… then they were free. Period.
You did have to pay for their pro tools. Final Cut Pro or Logic cost $300 each, for instance, but that was it. Every future update, small or large, was included in that initial price. Same with Pixelmator Pro in fact (now owned by Apple) - a one-time fee of $50 was all you needed to pay for a Photoshop equivalent. Compared to how much you have to fork out to Adobe each month, it’s a no brainer for most of most people’s needs.
Subscribing is the New Free
But all of this is changing with Apple’s Creator Studio. All these apps I mentioned above, and a few others, are now wrapped in a big bundle. Subscriptions are nothing new for Apple: they have them for TV shows, online storage, news, games, and more. I guess if these apps were included in their all-encompassing Apple One bundle, maybe they’d have a case, but this Creator Studio will be on top of that.
And what do you get for your money? Stuff you used to have for free of course, as well as apps you used to only have to pay once for, with a few new templates and AI-based tools to sweeten the deal.
We should’ve seen the writing on the wall with Final Cut Pro for iPad - a pro-level app you have to subscribe to. But it had been two years since its launch, the pro apps on the Mac kept their pricing structure. No longer
Now you’ll have to pay $13 each month, or £130 a year to use them.
The Best of Both Worlds?
I know, I know, some of you will tell me that that’s not entirely true, that you can still buy and download all software in that bundle separately, so you can choose to either rent or buy the tools you’ll work with
Oh you sweet summer child. Do you remember when Adobe started their own subscription programme? Remember how back then you could choose between buying the software outright, or renting it, making it the best of both worlds? Well I’m long in the tooth enough to remember. How’s that business model doing these days?
Now I’m not saying Apple will do an Adobe… but I’d have to be incredibly naive to think the status quo will remain the same after such a seismic change.
Inevitable Migration
How much do you want to bet that, even if new versions are still “free” in the coming years, new exciting features will henceforth be trapped behind a paywall? After all, that’s already happened, or do you really think Intel chips can’t handle automatic transcriptions in FCP for instance, forcing you to buy a Mac with Apple Silicon if you really really need that feature?
Maybe times are tough for Apple and corners must be rounded. After all, we’re all suffering in this economy, right? The hardware and services divisions can’t subsidise the software division forever, right? And the numbers don’t lie: in their last fiscal year, Apple only managed to scrape a paltry [checks notes] $416 billion… So you see, they really had no choice but to gouge their customers some more (what’s next? Removing power adapters from MacBook Pros while keeping the price the same?).
Steve Jobs hated subscriptions. I wonder what he’d think of his company today.
