Even though I was dead wrong about its release a the 2008 PMA, it was indeed being “held back” until the release of Mac OS X 10.5.2. Apple released the 10.5.2 last night, and shockingly enough released Aperture 2.0 this morning. Coincidence? I think not!

Aperture 2.0 seems like one solid release that addresses most (if not all) the requests that have been topics of heated debates on the message boards. A true “upgrade” (not a mere “update”), just as promised by Joe Schorr (Sr. Product Manager, Photo Applications at Apple) on his Apple discussion board posting back in 01/30/08. With over 100 (I’m just now reading #5, only 95 more to go!) new features it is sure to not disappoint all those who have been waiting for what seems to be an eternity for this upgrade.

The other great thing about Aperture 2.0 is that Apple has lowered the price by $100 to $199, making this one of the most affordable prosumer applications they offer. Obviously this is meant to make it much more attractive than Adobe’s Lightroom, which still retails for $299.

Those of you out there who recently purchased Aperture 1.5 (between 01/01/08 – 03/14/08) you can upgrade to Aperture 2.0 for only $9.95. I think Apple should make that a free upgrade since you already paid $100 more than the new version costs, but that’s just my opinion.