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Apple was the last champion of the pay once, own forever crowd, a safe harbor for some of the creatives fleeing Adobes monthly ransom. Now it has introduced Creator Studio, its own subscription-based offering that bundles together tools including Final Cut Pro, Logic Pro, Pixelmator Pro, Motion, Compressor, and MainStage (as well as newly AI-infused productivity apps like Pages and Numbers). There are already two major creative suits out there: Adobe Creative Cloud and Canva. The former is clearly oriented to the high end, enterprise, and prosumer spaces with heavyweight apps like Photoshop, Premiere, and Illustrator. The latter focuses on individual, small companies, and enterprises, with a strong productivity and template-based creative suite that has recently been expanded with free professional creative tools. With Creator Studio, however, Apple has put a bunch of tools into a brown paper bag of confusion: The assortment is too complex for the Canva crowd, yet underpowered compared to the Adobe suite. [Image: Apple] Stiff competition Adobe CC is the true bundle for creators. It covers every industry: design, publishing, motion design, video, audio, and even office productivity via Acrobat. For $70 per monthno perpetual, one-time-payment licenses available anymoreyou get all you need, plus Adobe’s AI, Firefly. In fact, for most people is overkill. Not many people do even a third of what Adobe CC covers. This is why so many people are fed up with their subscription model (worth noting: it still has about 41 million paying users). Canva is an all-in-one bundle for everyday creators: a browser-first suite that makes it easy to design social posts, presentations, simple videos, print materials, and brand kits without needing pro expertise. Its built around a cloud account with a big free tier, plus paid plans ($15/month for individuals and $10/month per user for the teams version) that include AI tools. For a while, Canva was “enough” for 90% of what people make, and anything heavierlike advanced photo compositing, full motion graphics pipelines, high-end audiousually lived elsewhere. Now, however, they added free perpetual licenses for the Affinity suite, which competes with Photoshop, Illustrator, and InDesign. Both of them are coherent in their focus and power in their own way. That’s not really something you can say about Apple’s new $13 monthly subscription package. Apple is asking us to pay for a hodgepodge of apps where the flagship video editor, Final Cut Pro (FCP), may not even be the runner-up anymore. Outside of very high-end video editingstill dominated by AvidAdobe Premiere Pro sits comfortably at the top of the market share charts with an estimated 30 million users in 2024. I say estimated because Adobe hasnt released official numbers. Like Apple, which last claimed Final Cut Pro had 2.5 million users in 2018. A lot has changed since that year and many video editors now argue that Blackmagic Design’s Resolve is the best video editor (and it is free). [Image: Apple] Another main plate in the Creator Studio is the newly acquired Pixelmator Pro, which Apple is seemingly positioning as its Photoshop killer. If you want a potential Adobe killer, you look at Affinity. Now owned by Canva, the Affinity suite (Photo, Designer, Publisher) is a genuine triple-threat that rivals Photoshop, Illustrator, and InDesign with a free (again, there are free options to most of the Apple and Adobe apps) price tag. [Image: Apple] Affinity reportedly added 1 million users in a single week. Pixelmator Pro just cant compete with that. Its a lovely app, but pretending it replaces Adobes pro design tools or Affinity is like saying go-kart can replace a Formula 1 car because they all have wheels. (By the way, if you own Pixelmator Pro, you will be forced to subscribe to Creator Studio because Apple says that your license will not receive any updates. A hint of whats to come.) [Image: Apple] The AI card doesnt cut it To compensate, Apple is dangling “exclusive intelligent features” as the primary reason to subscribe, locking automated toolslike Logic Pros new session players and Final Cuts magnetic maskbehind the paywall. Its a weak card to play, especially when you consider how far behind Apple has fallen in the AI races. Are people going to value access to these AI tools enough to justify Creator Studios $13 monthly payment? Time will tell. And what in the world are Pages, Numbers, and Keynote doing here? These productivity apps were already free and were never pro, no matter how many AI features you add to them. Why would a creative person pay for a free word processor that hasnt meaningfully evolved in years? Or a spreadsheet that is a joke compared to Excel? And sure, Keynote is slick, but have you heard about Canva? Or Google Slides for that matter? [Image: Apple] Who is creator studio actually studio for? So who is Creator Studio actually for? The only logical customer I can think of is someone like a YouTuberyour typical solo creator who edits videos, can cook something in Logic Pro, and needs to slap together a thumbnail in Pixelmator. For them, paying $129 a year is a steal compared to Adobes $600. But thats a narrow slice of the $56-billion creator economy Apple claims to target. Musicians using Logic Pro (perhaps the only Creator Studio tool that still has the crown in its respective industry) probably don’t need a video editor. Video editors using Final Cut don’t need a spreadsheet app. And so on. Judging by this thread on Reddit or this one in an Apple user forum, people seem to agree that this is a bad movepeople are tired of subscriptions. Even fan publications like Apple Insider have slammed the move. Apple users fear that eventually the company will kill the one-time-only licenses and force everyone into the subscription model. While Apple hasnt replied yet to questions about the potential future end of licenses yet (we will update the article when/if they do) its the shareholder-friendly thing to do.
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E-Commerce
Silicon Valley fintech giant Bilt announced an overhaul of its credit cards on Wednesday, which notably will include an introductory rate on all card users interest rates at 10% for one year. The promotion comes at a time of heightened political rhetoric around the cost of credit cards, with President Donald Trump announcing last week that he also is seeking a one-year cap on credit card interest rates of 10%. New York-based Bilt, which originally built its business model around earning rewards on rent and other routine purchases, has been branching out into other financial products as it has grown. The Silicon Valley-backed startup was valued last year at $10.75 billion and has been expanding its partnerships with landlords, and is now starting to build in rewards programs for other routine transactions, like a customers mortgage payment. The company says roughly 1 in 4 landlords now accept Bilt. In an interview, Bilt CEO Ankur Jain said Bilt was deciding to cap its interest rates on credit cards for one year to meet the bipartisan call for a solution on the issues of affordability that he says many of his customers are facing. Candidly, Jain also said it could be a chance to lure in new customers. If [a credit card rate cap] is going to happen, wed rather be at the forefront, Jain said. The 10% rate applies as an introductory annual percentage rate (APR) on new eligible purchases for the first 12 months for cardholders approved for one of Bilts three new cards. After that, purchases, balance transfers, and cash advances carry APRs that can run well above 20%, similar to other rewards cards. The credit card industry has long pushed back against any caps on interest rates on its products, with the average credit card interest rate hovering around 21%. They have faced their most serious challenge yet with Trump, who has embraced the populist idea of capping credit card interest rates for one year. Researchers at Vanderbilt University estimated that Trump’s proposal would cost the credit card industry $100 billion. Left-leaning politicians like Rep. Alexandra Ocasio-Cortez of New York and Vermont Sen. Bernie Sanders have long embraced capping credit card rates. Bilt is effectively offering its new and existing customers a promotional ratenot unlike other promotions the credit card industry does to attract new customers, like a zero percent APR or promotions for customers who transfer balances. But the announcement by Bilt, being small relative to the giants JPMorgan Chase, Capital One, and American Express, may have political ramifications. Politicians can now point to Bilt voluntarily capping interest rates for all its customers and ask why its larger competitors are unable or unwilling to embrace the same move. The new credit cards from Bilt follow the good, better, best model that other credit card companies have adopted. The center of the program is Bilt Cash, which is a points program that converts into cash back inside the Bilt ecosystem. These are often merchants that have signed up with Bilt to help attract customers in the local area. Bilt is also keeping its transfer partners with several airlines and hotels through its Bilt Rewards points program. At the top end of Bilts new credit card program is the Bilt Palladium Card, with a $495 annual fee, which will give $400 annual credits toward hotel stays as well as $200 in Bilt Cash. The middle-tier card will be the Bilt Obsidian Card, which focuses more of its rewards accumulation on dining out and grocery purchases and carries a $95 annual fee. The basic card will be called the Bilt Blue Card, which has no annual fee, but will also offer cash back and points accumulation, but at lower multiples compared to the annual fee cards. Bilt is trying to move beyond its credit card for renters identity and focus more on being a financial liaison between local merchants, landlords, and renters in the area. Bilt previously partnered with Wells Fargo on its credit card program, but that partnership is coming to an end in February in what appears to have been an acrimonious divorce. Wells Fargo apparently lost $10 million a month on the Bilt credit card, The Wall Street Journal previously reported, and chose to end its partnership several years before it was supposed to expire in 2029. The new card is being issued in a partnership with the credit card operations company Cardless, while the bank Column N.A. will be the issuing bank. By Ken Sweet, AP business writer
Category:
E-Commerce
The most dangerous people in a company are stressed leaders. I say that with full self-awareness. Ive worked for a few and came uncomfortably close to becoming one myself. Ive always had an impulsive temperament. On good days, it made me decisive. On bad days, reactive. Add long hours and the pressure of scaling a startup, and my emotional state began to spill onto the team. Focusing on mental health, rest, and mindfulness fundamentally changed how I build my company and how I see my role today. Im still a CEO, but Ive also become something elsethe chief energy officer. What follows is everything I wish Id known earlier about leading with emotional regulation and grounded energy. WHY EVERY CEO MUST ALSO BE A CHIEF ENERGY OFFICER We must stop seeing ourselves only through an operational lens. Gantt charts and product roadmaps matter, but not if you walk into a room as an emotional thunderstorm. Once you understand that, you start to see the full scope of the CEO role, including taking responsibility for the emotional climate of our workplace. The Workforce Institute at UKG found that 69% of employees feel their manager impacts their mental health as much as their spouses. Stress spreads in a domino effect, and the leader is the domino that knocks all the others over. Domino 1: Stressed leader. Research in organizational psychology shows that under stress, leaders are rated as less inspiring, less supportive, and less able to provide intellectual stimulation. Domino 2: Psychological safety. Teams sense tension and stop bringing ideas, feedback, or early warnings. They dont want to add to your load or trigger a reaction. Domino 3: Innovation and creativity. Managing your emotional state drains the resources your team needs to experiment. Domino 4: Proactivity. When employees dont feel safe, they avoid ownership and only wait for direction. HOW I LEARNED TO LEAD WITHOUT BRINGING STRESS WITH ME Culture is shaped by what leaders practice, not what they preach. Small, daily actions help you stay regulated and create a team environment that feels safe and energized. These habits made the biggest difference for me, specifically the Mind Heart Body method. I rely on this three-pillar system, which I call the religion of awakening, to reset before and after stressful moments. 1. Mind Notice the tension I pause and look for micro-signals of stress: a tight jaw, shallow breathing, a sudden urge to move faster without any real reason. 2. Heart Understand the emotion behind it I ask: What am I actually feelingirritation, fear, fatigue? What is this reaction trying to tell me? Is this about the situation or about me? 3. Body Move to reset your state Our nervous systems respond to movement faster than they respond to logic. A 10-minute walk or a few stretches can pull me out of fight-or-flight mode. DEVELOP MICRO-HABITS TO RESET YOUR ENERGY Micro-habits are simple, require no major cultural shifts, and have an almost immediate impact. These three have been a game-changer for me. 1. Set aside time to pause throughout the day Start meetings with one minute of breathing or quiet reflection. It helps everyone disconnect from whatever they were doing before and step into the conversation with a clear mind. Take regular two-minute reset pauses to notice your breath or posture. This calms your nervous system and prevents stress from building throughout the day. Pick one time block a day to step back from multitasking. Constant context switching keeps you in a low-level state of stress. Close your laptop for 30 seconds between tasks to reset your focus. 2. Set an energy baseline for the week Every Monday, I map out my energy like my schedule. This helps me spot red flags before they become stress triggers and make space for recovery. Whats likely to drain me this week? Which meetings require my best energy, and which ones can be lighter? Where do I need to build in recovery time? 3. Model healthy urgency Every Monday I label tasks by priority: what needs attention today, what must happen this week, and optional things that can easily roll into next week. This simple system forces me to prioritize intentionally instead of throwing everything into one important bucket. For the team, it removes unnecessary pressure and gives them the mental space to concentrate on what actually matters. WHAT A PEOPLE- AND ENERGY-FIRST WORKPLACE CAN LOOK LIKE When something helps me show up better, I bring it into the organization so everyone can benefit. As a CEO, I try to model the energy I want my team to feel. I lead Pilates sessions, share mindfulness tools and meditation techniques, and talk openly about moments when I need to reset. But to make well-being work at scale, weve also built structure around it. We rely on the same methods that underpin our BetterMe Business solution, a platform that supports practical wellness habits in the workplace, to make things like emotional training, mindful breaks, and movement part of our day-to-day routines. Heres how that looks for our team: Office spaces for movement, like walking paths for meetings Training access, with in-office and online options Running clubs, tennis meetups, and outdoor activities instead of bar events for team-building Regular check-ins that create space for feedback and honest dialogue Access to a corporate wellness platform that provides stress management tools I believe that the future of work isnt about squeezing more out of people. Its about taking care of the energy that keeps them going. Victoria Repa is the CEO and founder of BetterMe.
Category:
E-Commerce
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