Apple Aperture was launched with a bang, but is going out with a whimper. According to The Loop, Apple has formally announced that it has stopped development on its photo-editing and mangement application.
Yes, Apple announced its new Photos cross-platform editing and image-management software at WWDC 2014 , and at the time it was clearly intended to replace iPhoto. But at least based on the demos the Photos app looks pretty consumer-focused and mobile-centric, not really what pros need. It makes sense that the company is consolidating its photography strategy. However, despite Apple's assurances to The Loop that "development on other pro apps like Logic Pro and Final Cut Pro is continuing. Professionals in those app categories should not worry about their apps," actions matter far more than words. I think Apple is slowly trying to break free of its professional user base.
Between the Final Cut X debacle and this, Adobe owes Apple a big, wet, sloppy kiss, and Adobe didn't hesitate to jump on the news, helpfully offering to aid iPhoto and Aperture customers in migrating to Creative Cloud.
Aperture , at least at launch, was a darling of the pro photographer community, though as years passed and no updates emerged it gradually ceded ground to the later-arriving Adobe Lightroom , which offers more advanced tools.
The last major Aperture feature update was 3.0 in February 2010. Since then there have been a few feature tweaks and one important catch; the 3.5.1 update broke backward compatibility with previous versions, requiring folks to update to OS X 10.9 Mavericks or lose lateral compatibility with older systems in their workflow. I had thought that breaking with the past to incorporate Mavericks' 64-bit engine signalled that Apple at least wasn't planning to abandon development on the product. I thought wrong.