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Apple’s ProApps- not a money loosing scenario
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[Jamie Franklin] “There is when the professionals tool is fundamentally broken in favour of a more easily digestible (sellable) – grandma milly and students can learn in an hour – gui.”
There is clearly disagreement as to whether it is fundamentally broken. You and others say it is, I and others say it isn’t. We’re both AFAIK, professionals. It seems like these threads always devolve into veiled discussions of who is “more” professional. Which is stupid.
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~ My FCPX Babbling blog ~
~”It is a poor craftsman who blames his tools.”~
~”The function you just attempted is not yet implemented”~ -
As I’m prone to do in these situations I went to the source and talked with Horace Dediu (who provided the data that Alex used in his post) via twitter.
Apple only provides one number for the iTunes Software and Services (of which ProApps is part of)- how he has broken this apart into the different divisions is based mainly on public statements made by Apple. It is absolutely a “best guess” for a group for which Apple provides no specific data.
I provided him the “over 1 million” installs number provided by Apple in April- so that will probably factor in to new calculations next time around.
In his article, Alex rounded up, and said “approaching 2 billion”. Horace’s says his own chart info is $1.7 billion for past 12 months, but he admitted that number is probably too high.
Logic and Aperture are both strong sellers (frequently bouncing back and forth with FCP X on grossing and paid apps charts), and Logic is only $100 less than FCP X. Based on what articles we’ve seen about increased adoption, it would amaze me if more of the “over 1 million” weren’t sold in the last 12 months than the previous 12, or the 12 before that.
So let’s spitball for the last 12 months (and yes I’ll be generous)
500,000 FCPX = $150 mil
400,000 Logic = $80 mil
300,000 Aperture = $24 mil
150,000 Compressor = 7.5mil
150,000 Motion = 7.5milTOTAL: $269million
That’s a big spread, no argument from me.
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[Charlie Austin] “It seems like these threads always devolve into veiled discussions of who is “more” professional. Which is stupid.”
I agree.
‘a pro’ =
1. getting paid for it/making a living at it
2. master of a craft (as my father’s generation used to call it, “a real pro”)
3. being able to express yourself in a unique way, finding your voice (as my mother’s generation used to call it, “an artist”)
Mac Pro, macbook pro, Imacs (i7); Canon 5D Mark III/70D, Panasonic AG-HPX170/AG-HPX250P, Canon HV40, Sony Z7U/VX2000/PD170; FCP 6 certified; FCP X write professionally for a variety of media; teach video production in L.A.
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[Charlie Austin] “It seems like these threads always devolve into veiled discussions of who is “more” professional.”
That is not what I said, veiled or otherwise. It’s not about who is professional. It has always been about what elevated a tool to a more professional level. The argument has always devolved into sand kicking when it was never a real argument in the first place. The tool IS broken. The timeline is fundamentally broken. Regardless of all the other white noise.
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No, I think that is an opinion.
Could the timeline be improved upon? Yes. Absolutely. Is it fundamentally broken? Absolutely not. Going back to FCP7 timeline is an absolute chore for me. 20 year editor, I LOVE this new paradigm.
I think the only real truth is that people like to work in different ways. One is no less professional than the other. The traditional timeline is certainly more mature, it’s been honed and refined since the 90s- Xs timeline has rough edges, but the core concept is one that I love using every day.
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fair play. Yes, Horace is the man, his stuff is brainy aces generally, but as you say 2 billion is hard to square, the math is units sold times price in the end, and you’d need some zany numbers to hit that.
sure the only thing that’s important is that it is seen as more than paying its way, and represents a no brainer strategic stake in the future of media production.
Given Alexa, Blackmagic and Cion are ProRes vending machines, it seems incredibly unlikely, given their history with adobe, that Apple wouldn’t keep their hand in with software that handles it on their own top end hardware. They’re unlikely to rely on adobe or avid to strategically answer their need for a top tier prores native editing system to push their most expensive hardware, given neither editing system is particularly at all pro res native.
mind you – ppro, on a stacked machine, encodes prores at a speed that actually blows my mind. granted there are 24 cores and 64 gb ram, but good god that thing can work it. a 30 second spot goes out in 5 seconds. I look at my watch. It’s ridiculous.
https://vimeo.com/user1590967/videos http://www.ogallchoir.net promo producer/editor.grading/motion graphics
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[Jamie Franklin] “That is not what I said, veiled or otherwise.”
Sorry if I implied that you did, it was just an observation triggered by the “grandma milly and students” bit you tossed out. Perhaps you meant that an NLE’s professional grade should be based on how difficult it is to learn. 😉
[Jamie Franklin] “The tool IS broken. The timeline is fundamentally broken. Regardless of all the other white noise.”
No, it’s not. It’s different, but it does the same thing. Does it need improvement? Sure, what doesn’t. It’s never stopped me from doing the exact same thing as I do in other NLE’s. Sometimes it makes things much easier, sometimes not.
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~ My FCPX Babbling blog ~
~”It is a poor craftsman who blames his tools.”~
~”The function you just attempted is not yet implemented”~ -
I’ll preface it in saying, for a lot of us. It’s all there in the pudding…the exodus to another solution.
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Randy Ubiculous said he wanted an editor his grandma could cut her vacation clips on…thats what I was referencing.
Given the imovie on roids appeal, it is easier to learn.
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How many years was PPro out in the wilderness for hobbyists and wedding videographers before it’s toolset was mature enough to tackle what it’s doing now?
If you’ve been in this business, you’ve seen enough cycles to know nothing is forever. Maybe Final Cut will miss out on a portion of the market for the next 2-3 years while the tool matures- but it’s only getting better, and they’re focusing on Pro improvements.
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