OT: Apple pulls out of NAB

[Steve Connor]

Yes – but if it’s NOT true then at least I may get a denial!

Steve Connor
Adrenalin Television

Have you tried “Search Posts”? Enlightenment may be there.

[Walter Biscardi]

[Steve Connor] “Yes – but if it’s NOT true then at least I may get a denial!”

Doubtful. Let’s just say the information I got before the show floor announcement and what Apple ultimately did are two different things. They were absolutely going to NAB and have a large presence at the show.

So if you get a denial, it won’t be worth anything really.

Walter Biscardi, Jr.
Biscardi Creative Media
HD and SD Production for Broadcast and Independent Productions.

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[Tom Wolsky]

If Final Cut Express is not dead-ended. You think a company like Thomson would maintain FCE for the consumer market place?

I think Thomson buying pro apps would be horrible for the vast majority of FCP users, primarily because Thomson’s add-ons will significantly, majorly drive up the price, to near Avid proportions, which is exactly why most users have not invested in or have left Avid. Secondly, this will be bad for Thomson, because unfortunately head-to-head, editing platform to editing platform, if price were equal, Avid would be much more competitive and much more attractive and the FCS editing tools.

All this is great for Adobe. Premiere, which is a highly competent application, would fill the niche for most current FCS users.

All the best,

Tom

Class on Demand DVDs “Complete Training for FCP6,” “Basic Training for FCS2” and “Final Cut Express Made Easy”
Author: “Final Cut Pro 5 Editing Essentials” and “Final Cut Express 3.5 HD Editing Workshop”

[Tim Wilson]

[walter biscardi] “So if you get a denial, it won’t be worth anything really.”

In fact, they called me to see if I could do anything to stop the year-end speculation that Apple wasn’t going to NAB. Of COURSE we’re going they said.

The guy who told me this is a straight shooter. He wouldn’t have told me what I did if he didn’t believe it to be true.

As is often the case at big companies, the decisions are being made far above the heads of anyone public-facing.

[walter biscardi] “They were absolutely going to NAB and have a large presence at the show.”

FWIW, Apple hasn’t said they won’t be at the show. Just not in a booth. Avid was on the record from day one that they WILL be at the show…just not in a booth.

[Jeremy Garchow]

[walter biscardi] “Return on investment, or the lack thereof. How much does it cost Apple to develop and maintain the ProApps? How does that compare with how much it costs Apple to develop all of their consumer products? “

I’m not an accountant but I’d bet these are separate business units. Return on investment? how many macs have you bought since you’ve been working with FC(S)? Why have you bought them?

Because FCS requires that you upgrade if you want the latest greatest offerings. Add a laptop to that and you are talking major sales. That’s a return on investment, no?

Jeremy

[Jeremy Garchow]

[Tim Wilson] ” Apple’s NAB non-announcement (a short sentence or two in the industry’s least read and least significant publication) said explicitly that they’re focusing their sales efforts on Apple stores.”

Don’t you think it’s weird that the announcement came from the senior manager of PR and not someone else, like head of ProApps or something closer to it? Don’t you think this person has no idea what is up with FCS or how the ProApp side of the business works, or even how a professional ProApp user even operates on a day to day (i.e. makes purchases, etc.)? I am probably being naive about this and for that I apologize, but that announcement is super suspect to me, call it the skeptic in me. Anyone who knows how a post-production shop works should have an understanding that most likely that people aren’t going in to ask an Apple Genius how to turn HDV to ProRes or how to capture from an HDCam deck. If FCP hardware (AJA, Blackmagic, etc) was sold in Apple stores maybe, but as of right now, no way. I am not saying that I don’t believe the announcement, it just seems silly to start jumping off of a cliff because of it.

Trade shows are expensive, even for cash rich companies like Apple. That’s my take on it. Even though Apple has money, it’s more money in the pocket if they don’t do it. It’s not only the cost of the venue itself, it’s the the cost of producing the announcement, gathering the media, writing it, polishing it, printing the handouts, designing the website, staff travel and accommodations and don’t forget fossil fuels. Sounds like a bottom line business decision to me, right or wrong. As someone who does some work for events such as this (i.e produce and pre-produce media) and have had two big shows that I have done every single year for 5 or 9 years cancel due to cost overruns in their respective companies, I think this is more a sign of the times rather than a sign of sales rumors. Personally, I’d rather not hear about new and exciting products that will take forever to come to market just because they feel pressure to make an announcement in April. Send me an email when Final Cut Server is READY instead of giving false start dates, saves us all some grief.

[Tracy Smith]

Just thought I would throw my “2cents”

The big shows like NAB are going to see a decline. With the ability to market and communicate being what they are now, the trade shows as they have existed, are not as needed.

As far as Apple ignoring it’s Professional user base, I think that is conjecture. From their new “cradle to grave” marketing scheme, selling Ipods and IPhones, leading a consumer to the computers, and quite possibly inspiring a few people to become professionals. That is strengthening their products, not weakening them. It is damn smart marketing.

What is happening is 1. The end user. 2. Distribution 3. Content Creation
And ten years from now, do you really need the traditional distributors? Not really. You have built a pretty good loyal customer base over the years. So why would they take a jab at the content creation side they have promoted both professionally and in the amateur ranks? The folks at Apple are not dumb.

Professional does not mean you do movies and television. Apple knows this. NAB is the Broadcasters. And in the giant scheme of digital content creation. Broadcasting is not the only game in town. They are simply a distribution channel.

And right now electronic distribution seems to be in Apple’s Court. It is simply strategy.

[Rennie Klymyk]

[Tracy Smith] “Professional does not mean you do movies and television. And in the giant scheme of digital content creation. Broadcasting is not the only game in town.”

Yes the internet has certainly changed evertthing. Today we have school kids creating content and they get their input from the web. Less and less time is spent in front of the tv because we aren’t watching, we are creating. Advertising money is harder to come by without the demographics of a lot of viewers. Avertisers are buying time only from broadcasters as their ads are already produced independently for a reasonable price.

I’m sure there are some people who wish Steve Jobs and Steve Wozniak were never born. You used to have to spend hundreds of thousands to produce quality video imagery. Companies like Play Inc. saw the possibilities of mass marketing and made it their doctrine to provide a “Studio in a Box” to everyone for under $5000.00. They came close but where they failed Apple suceeded.

Companies like TGV could just as easily pick up one of the dinosaurs made derilect by FCP like Speed Razor and reserect it into something from the ground up. Or is it more about creating a bigger margin between high end systems and consumer/prosumer systems by quashing the biggest thorn in the side, FCP. The old adage “the rich get richer and poor get poorer” analogy. Like anything with the Grass Valley name on it, you know it’s going to be good but exspensive goodn’ expensive.

I think Apple has done a pretty good job with FCP. It’s easy to look around and want parody with the better features of other programs but all and all FCS2 is a hell of package for the money.

It could be Apple looked at their financial graphs and saw that 1 -2 months before mac world sales of work stations dropped off and so they started announcing at NAB. But then they noticed 1 -2 months prior to NAB the same pattern developed. We all stopped buying in anticipation of the new product they would introduce us to in April. Maybe now they just want to announce the new technology when it is available so we won’t be holding our breath before investing in new gear and their graph will level off.

“everything is broken” ……1st. coined by Esther Philips I believe.

[Devin Crane]

2 Thoughts,

1. Apple has alienated 2 of it’s biggest partners Avid and Adobe with it’s own Pro Apps both were mainly Apple based until they started there own Pro Apps. The only thing Apple hasn’t done is make a Photoshop alternative although Aperture is fairly close. This has never made sense to me, they were competing against their own partners.

2nd is they could be selling FCPs code since it is 32bit Carbon base and not 64, and re-porting a whole new FCP from the ground up. I wouldn’t bet on this one though.

[Michael Gissing]

[Devin Crane] “Apple has alienated 2 of it’s biggest partners Avid and Adobe with it’s own Pro Apps both were mainly Apple based until they started there own Pro Apps”

Actually it happened the other way around. It was AVID going to Windows that started FCP

[Devin Crane] “2nd is they could be selling FCPs code since it is 32bit Carbon base and not 64, and re-porting a whole new FCP from the ground up. I wouldn’t bet on this one though.”

I won’t bet on that one either.