Apple Aperture team gets the boot

Apple has slashed the development team for Aperture, its professional image software for RAW-format work flow, the insider news Web site Think Secret has reported.

The team's engineers have been absorbed by other departments or completely let go, according to the Web site.

The move is not entirely a surprise, as the software has seen a host of problems. Software glitches, such as an initial incompatibility with Intel-based Macs, have plagued Aperture since its release.

Aperture was also challenged by Adobe's release of comparable RAW-image work-flow software.

In February, Adobe began offering a beta version of Adobe Lightroom, Aperture's chief competitor, for free. Before the Aperture 1.1 upgrade, many online-forum posts had reported that the beta version of Lightroom performed better than Apple's pricier software.

In early April, Apple released Aperture 1.1, an upgrade that is compatible with both PC and Intel Macs. The price of Aperture was lowered from £349 to £219. Owners of the earlier version were offered a £130 coupon to the Apple Store, in addition to the free upgrade.

Apple also addressed many of the glitches with its April upgrade, but by then the Adobe Lightroom beta had been freely available for months.

The Aperture team change could be a reaction to last week's announcement that Adobe will be releasing Photoshop and Creative Suite on Mactel (Intel-based Mac) systems next year.

Adobe Lightroom and Aperture are both work-flow complements to photo-editing software, such as Photoshop.

Apple was unavailable for comment.