Apple's Photo Op, Adobe's Frown

"Apple pretty much killed Adobe's video product" on the Mac, says Swenson.

Of course, just because Apple toppled Adobe in video doesn't mean it will do the same with digital images. Photoshop offers many of the same features as Aperture and more, says Swenson.

The new competition will likely push Adobe to match Aperture's features and then some, he says.

Even without adding anything to it, Photoshop looks all but unstoppable in some ways, says Swenson. The product has about 96% of the U.S. market for professional image-editing products, according to NPD, and has beaten off nearly all of its previous competition, Swenson says.

But Apple could benefit from a dynamic of the creative industry, he says. Unlike customers of office suites or operating systems, professionals who buy imaging or graphics software often purchase more than one program for a particular task, even if the features of the programs overlap.

So Apple may be able to find a place on customers' desktops for Aperture even if the program doesn't displace Photoshop, says the analyst.

"Creative professionals buy multiple tools. If one tool does one thing very, very well, they will buy that tool," Swenson says, adding that he can see Apple growing the market for imaging software on the Mac.

Still, he says, the Premiere example likely remains a bad memory for Adobe.

"Aperture's launch will give them more impetus to innovate," Swenson says. "This is going to be a very interesting battle going forward."

Shares of Apple closed the regular session Wednesday up $2.73 to $54.94; Adobe rose 60 cents to $30.96.