Phil Hoppes
Forum Replies Created
-
Again, they don’t want to bare the cost of catering to the very high end needs. If you have higher end requirements than what they support, you either work with a cobbled environment or go elsewhere.
-
Yes, and I believe people here are seriously over estimating what their market contributes to Apple’s bottom line. Apple is a 100B/year company and growing. MacPro sales and FCP sales COMBINED on an annual basis don’t account for more that 0.25% to 0.5% of that total annual revenue.
FCPX sales combined with what it could spur with iMac sales very quickly dwarf any numbers you could come up with for FCP7 and MacPro sales. It is not even a competition.
-
While it may be argued they could have “done it” better I think killing FCP7 is Apple actually telling you all to move on, we arn’t going there. The NAB thing was simply Apple’s ego showing.
It does, never cease to amaze me, that people actually expect truth when it comes to discussion of a product that has not been released. An officer of a public company (aka Jobs) can say almost nothing about a new product or business without getting in real hot water with the SEC. A sales or marketing person is only going to tell you what they want you to hear as well as treading a thin line for a product preannouncement. They are not, by law, allowed to say too much.
I never listen to what a company says. I look at what a company does. That is what speaks volumes. My goodness, did anyone seriously think Jobs is going to say publicly, before a product is delivered “Ah you high end editors are going to have a fit because we cut all the knobs and dials you need so we could make an easier to use product!” Come on……
-
Waste of time and effort. Move on. Get over it. Get your work done and keep your customers happy.
-
Guys, you are all missing the point and taking this far too personal.
This is neither stupidity nor conspiracy. This is a very well thought out strategy that, if you stop and look how Apple has consistently performed as a company, makes perfect sense.
1) Apple and in particular, Steve Jobs, knows that the way you maintain profit and dominate market share in any business is you first have to be willing to create new markets and be willing, if necessary, to “eat your own” in order to make the next leap in volume sales.
2) No business is successful trying to be all things to all people.
3) Creating the best product possible in a shrinking niche market is the antithesis to point 1 above.
This is all about business not about keeping everyone in an existing customer base happy. Three to four years ago, (not the 2 being thrown around) I would be willing to bet that Jobs, Randy and I’m sure others got together and answered the following questions:
1) Where is the market going for video editing?
2) In particular what will be the largest segment of that market?
3) How can Apple best serve that largest segment?We all know the answer to those three questions is:
1) DLSR and lower cost HD h.264 video recording right down to cell phones (that we make and dominate with BTW)
2) consumer/prosumer
3) Create a low cost killer NLE that is very fast and very easy to use.FCPX is EXACTLY that product. All of the short falls that everyone on this page have been lathering about are all of the things that fall off the plate when you specify that your target market and objective is to make the BEST product to serve the needs described above.
What did Apple give up? They gave up a shrinking, very demanding, lower volume, higher support/installed seat user base of tens of thousands. I know…. Randy states the FCP user base of 2 million. Please stop for a second and segment that market of 2 million into just how many are bleeding edge needs vs more moderate needs. The bleeding edge user base is 10’s of thousands not millions. Did it piss off customers? Of course? Will it hurt Apple’s business? Short term, a little, long term it won’t even be noticed.
What did Apple gain? The opportunity to be the single most dominate supplier of low cost NLE video editing software using Apple’s propitiatory hardware in the market serving a fast growing market of millions. This is millions and millions that will clamor to buy more Apple hardware and plunk down an additional $300 to $400 for FCPX and additional packages. That is gravy margin icing on the cake.
Apple has chosen, as they have done in the past (iPod sales are dropping every quarter. Why? Because they are losing market share to iPhones) to “Eat their Own”. Unfortunately for all of the very high end NLE editors out there who use FCP as their mainstay, you just became lunch.
Keep in mind too, I would almost absolutely guarantee it, MacPro are the next to die. Why? There is no need for the product. Products are made and sold for one reason only. They fill a need. When that need no longer exists, the product dies. To the above, the shrinking need of high end NLE requirements has been killed to support the growing need of mid-range consumer NLE market. With Thunderbolt, FCPX’s speed and more than adequate graphics cards that will fit inside an iMac and a MacBook or MacBook Pro there is no need for a MacPro. All of the requirements that drove the need for a high end workstation with expandable slots was just killed, therefor the product is dead. QED.
-
There will never be a FCP8. What you see is what you will get. There is no hidden meaning. If FCPX fails, and actually, once the dust settles, I don’t think it will fail. But if it did fail, its gone and in the grand scheme of Apple Corporate Revenue it will be a footnote on a back page of an annual report. Seriously, how big do you believe that $300 a pop software product makes for a 100B/yr company? Do the math. Go crazy. 2 million units at 300each. That is 0.6% of their annual revenue.
In fact I think it will be wildly successful, just not the mainstay of 90% on this board. They may use it for sure, but it is not intended for the top 10% nor will it ever be pushed to that arena. No need.
-
Ah, the infamous Thunderbolt drives that the default set up FCPX will never see, use or even know exists because everyone always stores their media on the system drive under Movies.
And yes, I truly believe that MacPro’s will be dead. I don’t believe a word that Apple or any corporation says….. I believe what they do. What Apple does, very very well BTW, is compete very profitably in the consumer market place. That’s that 80% area under the bell curve. MacPros are an outlier to that space. Apple has just demonstrated to us all via FCPX and other actions (FCP server dead, XSAN dead) they don’t wish to participate in these fringe top 10% markets. What actions have they done that shows a strong commitment to the MacPro market other that putting an upgrade mboard in the same box year after year after year. The last update was one of the most paltry updates seen. That they have completely dumped nVidia for high end graphics cards as well as in the ATI space they don’t support their FirePro series tells me they really are not serious about making and supporting high end workstations. Speaks volumes to me.
-
Ditto. There is no need for MacPros. FCPX is fast. Its only redeeming trait that I’ve seen. Steve has a nice, mid-range NLE that will run on their laptops and iMacs. Hell, given Moore’s law still working, in a few years FCPX will run on iPads which is what Apple wanted all along. MacPro revenue and profit is in the round off error for their annual books. Take the resources and put them on iPhone and iPads where you get gobs of ROI.
As Tony Soprano use to say “Hey, it not personal, it business”
-
Nice to see you got one. I applied for mine this morning. I am betting they are overwhelmed with requests for refunds on this product and if they chose to turn people down the s$%t storm that would follow would overwhelm then so choosing the path of least resistance for them is the best policy.
-
That says it all. I suspected as much. Sounds like the flac jackets were handed out before Tuesday.
Well, Apple can, how is it you like to say over there? Get Stuffed!!!