Adobe:
We’re pleased to announce that Lightroom 4 is now available via the Mac App Store in North America.
The Mac App Store offering is the same product offered on Adobe.com in terms of features and functionality but has been modified to comply with Mac App Store requirements. There are a few important pieces of information you should be aware of.
It’s $149.00, same price as if you buy it at Adobe.com but there’s no upgrade price if you own previous versions of Lightroom (there is if you buy it from Adobe.com). The Mac App Store version is for Mac OS X only – the version you buy from Adobe.com is Mac and Windows. The Mac App Store version can only be updated thru the Mac App Store. Adobe says that means they could update it on their web site but it may not happen at the same time, or at all, on the Mac App Store.
There’s more.
Adobe says there is no guarantee that upgrade pricing will be available to Mac App Store Lightroom 4 customers when Lightroom 5 and future versions of Lightroom are released and that Lightroom 4 is available only on the Mac App Store in North America.
Remind me again what the advantages of the Mac App Store are, Adobe?
I’m honestly surprised upgrade pricing hasn’t occurred yet on either App Store.
Maybe that’s what’s holding up something like an iWork update?
Isn’t that a problem with the Mac App Store?
Apple likes the single price model. Even before the App Store, MacOS X was the same price. iLife was the same price, and iWork was the same price. They want the model “charge less up front, but if they want updates, they gotta buy it again.”
I can see how that’s desirable, but there’s also something to be said about rewarding previous customers, and the value of the entire product vs. only the changes since last version.
Does Lightroom have any of Adobe’s copy protection nonsense? If the Mac App Store version avoids that, that’s a nice advantage (the activation is a huge pain with the CS line, especially when switching computers or reinstalling). Also, you presumably get to avoid the Adobe updater.
The only advantages is not having to deal with Adobe directly as well as their horrific install process. You have to download a downloader in order to download their buggy software. To me that is a huge plus. However, I wouldn’t hold my breath on them ever releasing LR5 on the App Store.
No one disagrees that Adobe has an awful installer.
But there are so many caveats with buying Lightroom from Mac App Store, I couldn’t in good conscience recommend it to anyone
The advantange? Not having to deal with Adobe as already said, and being able to install LR4 on 5 different Macs!
The advantage, of course, is the easy uninstallation! Wait….
I imagine this is why they’re trying to be clear there are no promises in regards too pricing/upgrades. The thought of LR users installing it on 10 macs probably drives them nuts.
BUT, they also want to be as easy to acquire as Aperture.
I’ve used both extensively…looking forward to Aperture 4.
Given that the market for Lightroom is almost entirely pro-level photographers who are well-aware of how ridiculous buying the Mac App Store would be, I suspect Adobe is just trying to milk a few more bucks out of casual store surfers with a big bank account.
Good point.
I certainly wouldn’t buy Lightroom this way if it turned out to be something I wanted to use long-term.