Apple's Photo Op, Adobe's Frown

Adobe Systems (ADBE) may have just experienced a bad case of deja vu.

On Wednesday, Apple Computer (AAPL) introduced Aperture, new digital-image-editing software targeted at professional photographers.

Although Apple touted the fact that the new program will work well with Photoshop, Adobe's program that dominates the photo-editing market, the new software has the potential to carve into Adobe's cash cow.

Adobe has been here before. Microsoft (MSFT), for instance, recently announced a new suite of programs aimed at design professionals, Adobe's central market.

But, perhaps more pertinently, earlier this decade Apple displaced Adobe in the digital-video-editing market when it introduced a rival program.

"Adobe is just getting slammed" with competition, says software analyst Chris Swenson at NPD Group. Although Swenson doubts Aperture will knock Photoshop off its pedestal, Apple has an opportunity to grab a significant piece of the market.

"Apple is Adobe's most serious competitor in the creative space. They create amazing software," he says.

For now, Adobe is minimizing the potential threat. Aperture is just one of a number of programs developed to handle specific tasks that Photoshop doesn't yet address, Kevin Connor, Adobe's director of product management for digital imaging, said in an email statement.

Instead of being a threat to Photoshop, programs such as Aperture complement it, he said.

"Adobe Photoshop is and will continue to be the software catalyst in the digital-photography revolution," Connor said. "Photoshop has one of the most loyal and passionate user bases in the world, and we see little likelihood of that changing."

Apple representatives were not available for comment. But for now, the company, like Adobe, seems to be playing down Aperture's threat to Photoshop.

In a press release announcing the new software, the company touted the fact that users will be able to send images directly from Aperture to Photoshop for further editing.