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“Never win a case you can win on appeal”
The old lawyer’s maxim.
Apple’s business responsibility is to extract as much money from their customer base as possible.
Like it or not, there are lots more people using Final Cut for hobbyist/prosumer uses than for fully professional use.
By the looks of things, Apple have taken out all those really idiosyncratic, complicated features (like how you get video to play on a broadcast monitor) and presented a nice clean interface to the majority of users.
The fact that they’ve taken out XML support, a format that they have helped to define, is a clear signal they plan to release an ‘expansion pack’ for professionals.
The benefits for Apple:
The core app is uncluttered with legacy/ specialist features for entry level users. Less complicated support. Perceived to be easier to use.
Final Cut Pro name carries weight, and makes those new users feel good and ‘pro’. New users don’t care what old editors think. I know I didn’t when I started.
Apple have looked around and realised that a proper pro FCP with 64 bit power is going to blow away the professional opposition. Who are charging a lot more for their professional products to a niche market.
This is a chance to sell ‘expansion pack’ to it’s existing pro users base. Adding all the missing features. You think that will cost $299?
Think again.And all your third party plugins? A chance for you to buy them again on the app store. Giving Apple 30%.
This way, newbies do the X bug testing for free, while us pros grumble and continue with FCS 3. Lion comes out, making the pro implementation much easier. Apple announce a pro expansion pack. We grumble again, but shell out more more money.
We can go elsewhere, but I’d still be willing to use a fully pro FCP over learning Premiere Pro. Premiere is so… 1995! Not because of the features, just because that’s when I last used it. Emotionally, it feels like regression.
Unlike any other player on the NLE market, Apple won’t go bust because we don’t like what they are doing. Remember Apple are very good at this marketing stuff. Look at Logic. Not a bad pro app really.
They can get it right, but they need the financial incentive.
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2 Replies
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Respectfully, Premiere Pro is a very modern application, and Adobe is fully focused on media professionals.
Walter Soyka
Principal & Designer at Keen Live
Motion Graphics, Widescreen Events, Presentation Design, and Consulting
RenderBreak Blog – What I’m thinking when my workstation’s thinking
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Totally agree. Premiere is probably way better than FCP these days.
It’s just that I spent a long time convincing my clients that FCP wasn’t a toy.
When you look on producer’s budgets, there’s often line items marked Avid and Flame. Not Offline and Online.
We’ve all worked really hard to convince those producers that FCP wasn’t a toy for amateurs.Having done that, I now have to tell those clients that I’m moving to Premiere.
It’s not just usability, it’s about people taking you seriously.
Know what I mean?
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