Aperture

It's easy to forget how remarkable Aperture was. It came out of nowhere and struck a blow against Photoshop, with editing tools that relied on sliders more than brushes, making them quicker and simpler to use.
Photoshop’s dominance briefly looked threatened. After all, if you didn't need to create brand-new pictures from scratch, why would you choose it over this new pretender?
Adobe was swift to respond, shipping Lightroom and pricing it well below Aperture. It took Aperture’s power and flexibility to another level, and when Adobe dropped Creative Suite in favour of Creative Cloud, Aperture couldn’t compete. Many Adobe customers would now be getting Lightroom bundled with their Photoshop and InDesign subscriptions, so it felt like it was free. Apple cut Aperture’s price, but that wasn’t enough to save it. Read: Apple Aperture vs Adobe Photoshop Lightroom.
It carried on for three years without any serious updates until Apple, not surprisingly, pulled the plug on future development.
Where Apple goes from here remains to be seen. It’s finally previewing Photos for OS X but that looks to us more like a rival for iPhoto. We’ll bring you a full review as soon as Apple makes it available. If our suspicions are confirmed, Aperture’s demise may well mark the point at which Apple once again cedes the high-end market to Adobe.
Read: Everything you need to know about Apple's decision to kill Aperture and iPhoto