Apple’s User Numbers for Final Cut Pro – A History

[Franz Bieberkopf]

Marcus,

I cite the source as Philip Hodgetts or Larry Jordan or whoever – if they are reticent to name the Apple spokesperson or the little birdie then they are the source, and people can judge for themselves how much faith they wish to put in such.

Some people will believe the word of Deepthroat or whoever in a Las Vegas hotel room.

If Philip is now an Apple spokesperson I’d be interested to know.

Franz.

[Marcus Moore]

I hear what you’re saying, Franz- I just doubt you’ll find too many people around here who’ll think Philip would present info as verified unless it was. But let’s leave that- you’ve noted it.

The one point you bring up near the end of the OP is this question of FCPX growth as it relates to Mac growth. Apple has had a strong (some would say dominant) presence in creative computing since the beginning. US Mac marketshare has gone from under 5% in 2006 to 14% in 2013.

https://cdn.macrumors.com/article-new/2014/01/gartner_4Q13_us_trend.jpg

To think that FCPX sales should scale on the same curve would propose that everyone who’s buying a Mac is a potential Final Cut user. Whereas I think it would be an easy case to make that the Mac growth has come largely from more general computer users who don’t work in creative arts at all. You just have to look around to see the popularity with business users, students, developers… and all those “halo” users who’ve moved to the Mac after having good experiences with iPods or iPhones. If Mac sales growth was being driven strictly by creatives, then I don’t think Mac marketshare would have grown nearly as much as it has in the last decade. There’s just not enough of us relative to the whole computer market.

[Franz Bieberkopf]

[Marcus Moore] “I just doubt you’ll find too many people around here who’ll think Philip would present info as verified unless it was.”

Marcus,

One could leave the trustfulness of Philip out of the question entirely and still have concerns about information for discussion.

I’ve demonstrated before how meaning shifts in memory aided by intention:
https://forums.creativecow.net/readpost/335/72008

What we now have is you claiming that Apple has posted official numbers through Philip. “… anything that he puts up on his blog regarding numbers can be considered official.” What we don’t have are the actual words that Apple used in such an announcement, and as we have seen (above), Apple is quite careful about the words they choose.

If he is remembering something that someone told him in a Las Vegas hotel room, he should post the information as such. If he is quoting an Apple spokesperson, he should post it as such. If he paraphrasing what he understood from a private discussion from a source he doesn’t want to identify, he should post it as such. All three have different implications.

Questioning such does not impugn his reputation at all, and I can’t imagine why he would be insulted by the question. I don’t understand what you find controversial about this.

As to Mac sales, there is a significant segment (oft mentioned in these parts) of editors who do not purchase their machine to fit their NLE software, but in fact purchase their software to fit their machine. For this segment, an increase in general Apple market share impacts on options – you can’t buy FCP if you don’t have a Mac.

Franz.

[Robin S. kurz]

[Neil Sadwelkar] “but only I use them, and never simultaneously.”

So you kinda answered your own question, no? 😉 You are 1… with 3. So… 1. 😀

Either way, as far as the EULA is concerned, that’s exactly what you’re allowed to do. Install on as many computers you own/control, only you’re the only one legally allowed to use it at any one time. Whereby YOU using it on all at the same time should technically be legal also, from my understanding.

Stick that in your pipe and smoke it, Adobe. ;-P

[Robin S. kurz]

[Ronny Courtens] “Are you saying that there are people out there who actually buy a software after having been able to try it 30 days for free, and then they never use it?”

Anyone BEFORE (I believe) 10.0.3, when the first test version even became available… yeah.

[Robin S. kurz]

[Michael Phillips] “As mentioned, each purchase can be “used” on 5 different systems. “

Um… no. ANY number of machines. As long as you (the iTunes ID owner) own/control them. There is NO (technical) limit.

[Robin S. kurz]

[Marcus Moore] “Well, it is somewhat self evident. Most downloaded paid apps on the MacAppStore. It’s actually quite remarkable to me that FCP X does as well in the rankings as this- considering “paid” apps are anything down to $.99.”

Well, you would of course have to purchase 300 of those 99¢ers to make up for just one FCP… 😉

Interestingly, I just happened to look into the MAS yesterday (for something else) and was surprised to see FCP in the top TWO (grossing) of every single MAS I checked. All the big ones. US, Germany, China, Canada… ALL with FCP either in first or second place. And even averaging within the top 20-30 for the top PAID apps, whatever the exact difference is. But I can’t help but think it makes for some considerable numbers either way. The gist of it, for me, would be: no matter what the *exact* numbers are, they can’t by any means be bad.