Re: Thoughts on new FCP X Sneak Peek
 

I don't think they hid their best to last but this is a totally new program here. There wasn't time to go into exporting/encoding, ingesting, native file support, media management or 100's of other feature we use everyday but don't hear about in product marketing literature. Look how many features are in a typical NLE. When Edius first came out did you see a demo that showed every single feature?

If this was just an upgrade then yes new features could be shown in an hour. This time however every single bit is brand new. Apple knew they only had an hour so they had to decide what would be the cool stuff to show in an hour. It's sort of like creating a 2 minute trailer for a 2 hour movie. You want to give the biggest impact to catch people's attention.

Personally I learned more about FCPX by looking at the giant screenshot floating around the web then I did watching the video of the entire presentation. Ok maybe not that far but I did learn a lot that I didn't see in the presentation. For example this is not confirmed but it looks like FCPX does support native AVCHD formats.

Now I'm not saying FCPX is going to be the last NLE we will ever use. We have been hearing that about FCS for years and sometimes it has fallen very short. All I am saying is that we have only seen a little bit of what it can do so far. I'm not talking bells and whistles either but meat and potatoes editing. The sort of stuff we use every day but doesn't look like much when shown to other people. Like a killer keyboard shortcut that saves hours on a project sort of thing. It was a lot of these features that were in the FCS3 update that didn't have any fanfair and people criticized. To me they were awesome but I would never do a presentation of some of it unless I wanted to put people to sleep.

Re: Thoughts on new FCP X Sneak Peek
 

I think Apple tinkered a bit with FCP 7 (ver. 6 had smoothcam and ProRes, among other "killer" features), and got some heat for it. As such, I commend them for going back to the drawing board and re-building everything from scratch, adding in features that are prevalent in other NLEs, plus some awesome new ones, then cut the price so low that Avid, Adobe, Edius and maybe Sony, to an extent, are nervous.

heath

Re: Thoughts on new FCP X Sneak Peek
 

We will have to wait and see exactly what comes out as FCP X. I don't think that Adobe or Sony or GV Edius will bother too much unless there is a Windows version of FCP X. Now they can run on MAC's but FCP can only run on MAC's. They have the whole market available to them rather than just one brand of PC. Depending on the actual feature content of FCP X they may also have lower cost product to offer as well.

Ron Evans

Ron,

You're right about the lowering of the price.

In the early- to mid-2000s, I saw a lot of producers walk away from post-production houses, and purchase a Final Cut Pro system and just hire an editor to cut for them. I'd say 2/3 of the independent video producers I worked with did this. It's a combination of saving money, but also cutting prices because customers, at least locally in South Florida, weren't willing to pay the higher rates from the 1990s.

I'd show up with a laptop and FCP, but they'd already have a Power Mac G5, and, later, a Mac Pro ready to go with FCP loaded up.

As an aside, some of my fellow editing buddies, one a major Hollywood editor, on Facebook and I have been joking about the ultimate NLE feature: tell the computer you want the footage captured, cut, color corrected, mastered and ready to go by the time we get back from lunch. If only we were so lucky.

Heath

Re: Thoughts on new FCP X Sneak Peek
 

Not computer but the phone or ipad. So when you are having lunch your phone is doing the data crunching as per your preferred "cinema profile" . :-)

Cheers,
Sabyasachi

Re: Final Cut X Announced At NAB
 

Having a pen doesn't necessarily make one a writer.

What will make the difference in any market is the skill level. Because although anyone can have the tools, it still takes a good production team to create compelling programming.

Re: Final Cut X Announced At NAB
 

Dean, totally agree. It's just a shame that some clients don't realise that.

Cheap is good in some ways but it will also encourage producers to take an edit "in house" which can have varying consequences.

Re: Thoughts on new FCP X Sneak Peek
 

My Sony CX700 will automatically produce a highlight clip of a date range on the camera with music !!! Adobe Elements will also do this based on a choice of video quality, fixing audio noise etc or movie theme complete with titles !!! . Available for Windows and the MAC at $80 !!! Plus version even has auto backup to the WEB if you pay for it. !!!! Both are intended to create a very quick highlight of a holiday for example and both do a credible job. I was pleasantly surprised and amused.

Ron Evans

Re: Final Cut X Announced At NAB
 

A cheaper Final Cut means more people just out of college doing free work to "fatten" up their resumé. Other then that, the new version is looking good to me.

Re: Final Cut X Announced At NAB
 

FCS 3 with the Higher Education discount is already priced at around $299.

Re: Thoughts on new FCP X Sneak Peek
 

I'm not an Apple fan whatsoever. In fact, I can't stand their business model where Jobs dictates what is best for Apple users (ala dictator).

BUT, I am very happy that the new FCPX looks like a killer NLE. Many people just don't understand that competition is GREAT for all of us.

Btw, Native Editing isn't everything its cracked up to be if using any form of H264. Also, FCPX users will need to get used to the slight delay every time hitting the space bar like us in Premiere CS5 due to decoding. I have two PCs and a 6-core Mac Pro. One PC has an i7 and the other PC is a 12-core Z800. With H264, only the 12-core can handle it easily.

On a side note, the Premiere 5.5 upgrade adds FCP 7 keyboard shortcuts.

Speaking of Mojo and AVID, I can't believe their business model is still working even though it has been 'relaxed' a bit. Their 5.5 upgrade is something like twice the price of FCPX.

Speaking of pricing, are you certain the $299 is ONLY for the full program or is it the UPGRADE price? If for the full app, then it seems Apple is taking an odd stance by eliminating upgrades.

Lastly, it is refreshing to hear FCP users who are not stuck in the RDF (reality distortion field).

Re: Thoughts on new FCP X Sneak Peek
 

You should try Edius. Plays with no delay at all. Your i7 should play 3 or 4 tracks of AVCHD native with no problems. My 4 core Q 9450, an old PC by todays standards will play 1 track at high data rate 1920x1080 ( 24Mbps or 28Mbps 60P) no delay and two if they are lower data rate 17Mbps or lower. Vegas also has no problems with much the same response.

Ron Evans

Re: Thoughts on new FCP X Sneak Peek
 

With Premiere, it is not much of a delay and I don't mind it, but others have complained about the not-instant-response when hitting play with certain codecs (MPEG2, H264). I edit mostly XDCAM EX and MXF nanoFlash in addition to image sequences (DPX, PSD and OpenEXR from Cinema 4D renders) and I have no problem.

Re: Thoughts on new FCP X Sneak Peek
 

Part of me says I will wait until others kick the tires on the new car and let a few updates and bugs rolled in and to get worked out. My experience says, like most completely re-written new apps, there will be some bugs. I'm hesitant to edit a paying gig or anything involving a client that's not proven

The other part of me says,,well it's $299.00, ... I love Avid,,,been loyal,,,it has served me well,,,but ,,,,

$299.00??? What have I got to lose?

Re: Final Cut X Announced At NAB
 

If anybody wants to see the new version in action you can check it out here, just under an hour of the presentation:

Video of Final Cut Pro X Announcement Now Available | Mac|Life

Re: Thoughts on new FCP X Sneak Peek
 

EXACTLY!!!

Adobe and AVID need to realize that once you get someone accustomed to using a certain NLE, it is VERY VERY hard to get them to change. Thus, it would be very smart and strategic for them to offer very low prices for MC 5.5 and Premiere CS5.5 and even offer super low cross-grade pricing. AVID's cross-grade price is ridiculous as it costs almost $1,000.

Further, Premiere CS5.5 by itself is not priced competitively ($749 or ~$300 upgrade) but when included with the Production Premium CS5.5 suite, it is a steal considering After Effects and Photoshop Extended are $900 each when purchased separately. And now you get a very good, revamped, 64bit DAW - Audition included in addition to Mocha which is extremely powerful & easy to use, and yet, most people don't ever use it.

Competition is great and it appears that Adobe and Apple are duking it out with AVID seemingly content.

Also, Adobe's subscription model should have been implemented when CS5 was released so more facilities could afford switching 10+ computers to CS5. Instead of $16000 for 10 computers, it is now only $890 upfront per month - MUCH more affordable. Plus, you get the latest release so no upgrade costs when CS6 and then CS6.5 are released.

I don't see how the monthly subscription is more affordable; every 18 months (or so) Adobe updates their major apps, and I could see the subscription model getting pricey.

I'd say Adobe was knocking at Apple's door, but FCP X's price point may have kept the door locked. Back to duking it out for number 2.

The price, no matter what, I believe. A hidden camera caught them saying no more FC Express or Studio... I really think they've rolled up most of the Studio apps in Final Cut Pro X.

Also, someone mentioned that Apple FCP fans think these features are new because they haven't tried other NLEs. With all due respect, unless you're downloading the free trials, if available, it's a bit pricey to be buying the apps. Plus, with NLEs, it's harder to just say, "All right, I'm switching," unlike going from, say, Microsoft Word to Apple's Pages. NLEs are very complex apps, and even today I still discover little things in FCP I didn't know existed. I like to just know enough to get started, and just start learning from my mistakes. Hence me learning some obvious things nearly 12 years later.

CNET has a Final Cut Pro X FAQ:

The skinny on Final Cut Pro X (FAQ) | Apple Talk - CNET News

heath

Re: Thoughts on new FCP X Sneak Peek
 

At $85 per month, that is $1020 per year and $2040 every 2 years. Adobe stated that their upgrade/new release model has changed to every 12 months and 2 years. A ".5" is every 12 months and a full upgrade is every 2 years now. So, this time next year, CS6 will be released and then 12 months later, CS6.5 will be released. Figure $400 for each upgrade and $1700 for CS5.5 and in 2 years with upgrades to CS6 and CS6.5, that is $2500 total. With the subscription plan, it only adds up to $2040 for 2 years, and you will get both upgrades at no extra cost.

So, the subscription plan ends up costing less!

Re: Thoughts on new FCP X Sneak Peek
 

Thanks for clarifying that, Steve. Makes much more sense.

heath

Re: Thoughts on new FCP X Sneak Peek
 

Lots of opinions on this...relatively few known aspects of the software though...the presentation itself didn't do much other than give a peak at some selected features. Lots of bold moves and process rethinking...very Apple (and good BTW, that's not a jab), but I think it's fair to say that 80% or more of what the app does and is is still behind the curtain.

I think the application will have to be used in its released form before it can be fully evaluated. Looks like Adobe and Avid have a couple more months to make inroads before they have to address FCPX.

...and they have been making progress despite what the sales chart presented seemed to show.

Re: Thoughts on new FCP X Sneak Peek
 

I hope there is an option to connect scratch drives to projects and than existing hard ware, such as breakout boxes will continue to work.

Re: Thoughts on new FCP X Sneak Peek
 

All i can say is Finally!
I've been debating switching to Adobe for 6 months, frustrated with 32 bit FCP long in the tooth.
Don't get me wrong, the jobs get done; but looking over the fence to other apps using the latest hardware to it's potential was getting me anxious. Especially with all the attention on their consumer device development.
Apple got there in a nick of time; i was about to switch.

My main gripe now is the lack of Blu-ray support.
Although, Jobs apparently doesn't believe in physical delivery formats, clients require a solid delivery of product. Pay the damned royalties and incorporate Bluray into DVDSP already.
At least the AVCHD discs are working nicely for short format delivery . . . i'll give 'em that.

Re: Thoughts on new FCP X Sneak Peek
 

Didnt FCS 3 have some kind of BR delivery export? Maybe they will expand on that. I am not a huge Mac user so tell me. those of you who need BR delivery (which I think is more than Steve is giving credit for) what will your workflow be? Edit in FCP X then export to what??? Other than Encore what are the other BR solutions on a Mac? Are there any??

Re: Final Cut X Announced At NAB
 

I'm at least as sure that they did not. So far as I could tell, they only said that they're working on other parts of the suite, but they didn't bother to say which, when, or how they were planning on releasing upgrades.

Still, I remain upbeat.

Re: Final Cut X Announced At NAB
 

BTW, the cost of upgrades nowadays is a LOT better than it used to be.

I first started with a Media 100 system in 1997 because it was about the best deal at the time, compared to Avid. And much of it was real time without rendering, which was an accomplishment in the days when computers weren't nearly as powerful as they are now.

Upgrades would cost $3,000 or more, depending on what level of Media 100 you wanted. And updates were also $1,000 or more.

Them came Final Cut Pro HD.

The cost of the entire program was less than an M100 update. More than just two video tracks. A seemingly unlimited number of audio tracks. And it could handle HD. Without any special hardware.

Afterward, Color was incorporated into the package. And, having come from a photo and "prepress" background where color was always a big deal, this made it even better. It was now practical to "burn and dodge" video! And I didn't have to spend $5000 to get it!

So for this new FCP to be priced at $299 -- Definitely not bad. Still going to wait and see what is done to Soundtrack Pro, Color and the rest of the suite before passing judgement. But overall, so far so good.

Re: Thoughts on new FCP X Sneak Peek
 

Both FCP and Compressor have an export to Blu-ray function. There are reasonable encoding controls but the authoring was a step below even iDVD. So not even iDVD level of menu creation let alone the authoring capabilities of DVDStudio Pro.

I don't think the market penetration is all that great, at least compared to DVD. I'd love to see the numbers for Netflix Blu-ray rentals vs their streaming views.

The problem we face is that some clients still want a physical deliverable medium with reasonable menus. You can deliver a Blu-ray disk from FCP7 and Compressor 3.5 though.

Re: Thoughts on new FCP X Sneak Peek
 

When all those features were listed I just kept thinking to myself, "FCP seriously didn't have any of that before?!" I've been using most of it in Vegas on a $350 netbook for over 3 years. And on a desktop for 6 years.

And I'm not sure I understand how Adobe and Avid are behind the curve. A lot of these features are in CS3 and MC5.

Re: Thoughts on new FCP X Sneak Peek
 

More interesting perspective. Here's my next round.

I keep reading these posts where everyone keeps noting "My software did (insert FCP feature X months/years ago!'

But I think that TOTALLY misses the point. It's irrelevant unless you ask WHY then, NO OTHER software has been able to give FCP a serious run for it's crown in editing popularity? It's always been an expensive program $1000 plus - that REQUIRES the user to purchase a NON windows PC in order to use it. Yet it's grown, and grown, and grown.

The publicly displayed statistic at the SuperMeet is that FCP has a HUGE worldwide installed base lead over Premier, Vegas, et al. And inarguably those are excellent editing software solutions.

Is it all timing? Luck? If it's not features, what is it?

IS it the often mocked Reality Distortion Field? Or is that phenomenon, itself based on something OTHER than the actual distortion of reality. Is there an underlying truth that escapes so many Apple detractors? Something illogical but still fundamental to the way this particular company does business?

Apple, does seem to generate an almost cult-like following. Why? Is it truly because Mac-heads are merely the "some of the time" people that PT Barnum argued can be fooled over and over and over again? Or is there something else in play here.

My answer is that with Apple, it's NEVER as simple as just the product.

Yeah, other companies had more features in their NLEs than FCP up to recently. But at Apple, products aren't stand-alone items, but reflections of a larger "VISION" built around those products.

Look at history. They figured out that It's not just a music player - but rather a tool in the the music consumption ecosystem - so while RIO, et al, sold THINGS, Apple sold an end-to-end new turnkey solution to consuming and listening to music - the player, the web access, the software, the royalties, EVERYTHING and wrapped it in a easier to use environment that was incredibly attractive and painless to use.

They did the same with mobile telephones. The carrier hardly mattered - or even the "features" of the phone itself. It's was total phone experience. (NO buttons, how will I use it? Better, actually. and you get APPS, and Music, and location based services, and a BETTER web experience, and on and on and on. - so much so that people FLOCKED to it even tho the network was essentially a mess for the first two years of service!)

Apple is now doing that with motion content creation. Editing, if you will.

You want to hold fast to working the same way you did when it was physical tape - burn plastic DVDs and distribute your work via FedEx or the US Mail? Well go right ahead.

But be careful. Apple just told us they spent a LOT of time asking fundamental questions about how video (and other motion content) NEEDS to be processed in order to prepare for where the industry is likely to go in the future.

Personally, after noting their track record - I've learned to pay CLOSE attention to the smart people who's job it is to suss out the future.

You might not like it. Heck, I might not like it. But I've learned to ignore the lessons of proven high performers at my own personal peril.

For what it's worth.

Re: Thoughts on new FCP X Sneak Peek
 

Hi Bill,

Very well said.

I am no marketing expert but I do have a BS degree in Marketing and Poli Science; so, I have a decent understanding of how consumers and people 'think'. With Apple, the reason their products sell so well is due to Branding.

Just look at the iPad. For a very very small percentage of owners, it does something they can't get from something else cheaper or do something better. The iPad is 'Cool' and Apple is 'Cool'. The iPhone is 'Cool'. The iPod is 'Cool'. Apple has done an amazing job of creating a 'Cool' brand. People will spend more money on an item because it is 'Cool'.

The basic underlying psychology behind the 'Cool' factor is about people wanting to fit in and be accepted by others.

So, with FCP, being an FCP user, you are part of a 'Cool' group.

Part of the technical reason behind FCP having such a large user base is due to it being the strongest and most affordable/best value several years ago. Premiere wasn't a strong competitor and Avid had a very high entry cost. Still today, I hear some people referring to Media Composer as an 'Avid' just like Autodesk's Flame and Smoke even though these are just software programs, but they are purchased as a complete turnkey system.

The second part is Apple's strategy of getting potential users into their hardware and software at an early age. Look at all the high schools who are providing iPads or MacBooks to their students. From a business standpoint, this is genius. Apple gets students accustomed to their hardware and software so it is just a natural progression that these students purchase their own Apple products.

If Adobe and others want to 'steal' current and future FCP users, they must provide seriously low pricing or software that is so much better. For the last year, Adobe CS5 has been the latter while Avid has been way off on both.

On a side note: Steve Jobs and Apple need to realize that the internet should not be relied upon as the 'best' and only way to transact in the near future. Why? Because more and more ISPs are implementing CAPS on bandwidth :( booooooo! A family of 4 can go through 250GB of data (includes up & down) in a couple weeks with youtube, vimeo, Netflix, iTunes... At my house, we don't use Netflix but we have gone over 250GB twice and had over 90% usage twice since upgrading to Comcast's 50Mb 6 months ago. Heck, Comcast just rolled out 100Mb service for residential (business has had it for a while) and I think it comes out to JUST 14 hours of downloading until the 250GB cap is reached. What a joke!

Re: Thoughts on new FCP X Sneak Peek
 

Understand though that not every editor is a filmmaker and not every editor has a production house. In my case I do weddings say what you like but I need BR my clients are not going to watch my work off the web they may look to the web for demos etc but at the end of the day I need to deliver a "plastic disc" as you put it because thats the way its done no matter what some futurist thinks. One thing I thing I think FCP X needs to get (on another note) is motion my full time job is at a TV station where we use FCP the one thing our editors use alot is motion for promos. As it sits none of our editors want anything to do with FCP X although we are all hoping Apple shows us something.

Re: Thoughts on new FCP X Sneak Peek
 

Not to put too fine a point on it Randy, but as the SuperMeet presentation noted, there are over TWO MILLION LICENSED FCP seats out there.

Want to take a guess at how many of those are in fully pro TV studio environs? I'd bet the total is under 10%. So while esoteric "pro features" like the ability to integrate your work into a 60 seat facility and share petabytes of storage across a 5 acre facility are important to a great many industry insiders - the actual number of users with needs at this level is probably pretty small.

PARTICULARLY since the clear and obvious trend today is in corporate DOWNSIZING. I've done work the past few months that, a few years ago SHOULD have gone to a facility with a $2million dollar plant. - but I do it in my converted hay barn with a fraction of the overhead and in digital collaboration with other pros in other states and the end result all the quality with little of the overhead. It's my primary competitive advantage.

Maybe it's still important for Apple so serve the top of the Pro market. I hope so. I like the path because it generates tools that are useful to me at the "single seat but with nice corporate clients" level.

However, Apple simply WILL NOT survive if it focuses exclusively on what may be even 200,000 "true facility pro customers" - or even event folks who want to keep mailing plastic - if it doesn't ALSO meet the needs of the 1,800,000 others out here who also contribute their money to the FCP Development efforts. Also, it doesn't take a genius to forsee a time where along with your water heater and your air conditioner, houses will come with built in data storage - and when you move you'll simply download your family files to the new house and erase them from the old (with secure backups on the cloud.)

How long away is that? A few years? The wiring is trivial and if the housing industry hadn't cratered, I'll bet you a dime to a dollar that without the real estate bubble burst - it would already be an optional new home feature gaining traction today simply because virtually EVERYBODY needs home based digital storage in their lives today. (Apple TV and Airport rigs making a bit more future sense now?)

As to FCP I certainly hope they keep every pro they're currently got. But if not, I'm sorry, but the pros are going to have to bend in this. Because no business worth it's name survives (or should) if it concentrates on filling 200,000 orders at $1000 when it has the opportunity to fill 1.8 Million orders at $299. Do the math. 529 million against 200 million?

Apple is many things. Business idiots they most certainly are not.

Re: Thoughts on new FCP X Sneak Peek
 

I don't think it's completely that owning an Apple product is "cool;" I think Apple makes great products that work. While my friends laughed at me shelling out $1400 for an old MacBook (including RAM, bigger drive, etc.), they spent $500 on a solid Dell that died within months, and they bought another, cheaper one. And it died a year later. 3.5 years later and they've spent more money on 4 laptops than I did on one. And I cut a feature film with FCP on that MacBook before selling it for something faster.

When FCP shipped in 1999, Adobe Premiere 5.1 was having serious issues with handling DV, which was fixed by ver. 6, but it was, at the time, too late for them and Mac. Avid had nothing cheap--you had to shell out lots of money just to get a decent NLE. (I'm focusing on Mac NLEs here.)

Even now, if you want to edit a high-end film, you just need a great Mac Pro (or MB Pro with ProRes 422), a bunch of hard drives, a great capture card and a calibrated monitor (think Matrox MXO and an LCD). You're probably out $5,000 - $10,000, while to do the same with Avid, you're gonna end up renting the system because it's so expensive. FCP killed Avid in that dept.

I will agree that, until now, only Premiere Pro and Vegas Pro were really adding in great new features and changing the UI a lot. I have a friend who owns a rental house and he's been renting out Avid systems for years. He told me the other day that, aside from some new features and UI tweaks, Avid hasn't changed much, like FCP, over the years.

I think message boards and communities like DVi, instructional videos, etc., have really helped push people to try FCP and that's why it's been hard for others to catch up. Vegas Pro does it well, too, with guys like Spot and VASST doing some great training discs and books. That's what attracted me to Vegas Pro, and that's an NLE UI that I wasn't comfortable stepping into, since FCP, Avid and Premiere are essentially the same.

heath

Re: Thoughts on new FCP X Sneak Peek
 

A friend of mine sent me a link about 10 businesses that have seen serious "erosion" in the past 10 years, and post-production houses have certainly got hit pretty hard with apps like Final Cut Pro, Vegas Pro, etc. Something like 48%. And it's not just the economy -- people don't want to pay a lot of money for production anymore.

Up until a year ago, I was working for a company as a one-man band (three of us total, covering Vero Beach to Miami Beach) doing writing/producing/shooting/editing of local commercials for Comcast Spotlight, who laid off something like 15-20 people and the outside company replaced them with 3 of us. Then dropped the price from $1200 for a basic :30 to $550. Low? Very, but it's the reality.

In the past 10-15 years, it's gone from "jack of all trades, master of none," focus on one or two things, which I learned in film school, to "if you don't know how to shoot, edit and do graphics (and possibly write, direct and produce), you aren't working." I spent years as an editor, always with a separate department for shooting, graphics, production, etc. Now it's all one or two people. That's the reality of it, and Apple is smart to capitalize on that market.

I'm glad people are mastering BDs and DVDs; other than working on some films from 04 to 08, the last companies I've worked for, I've had to burn a grand total of, and I'm not kidding, 10 DVDs. 7 for the corporate video company and only 3, literally, out of about 75-100 commercials I did at the local production house. For the most part, the clients wanted a WMV for their website and that was it. I was shocked!

But as I sit here, having just recently moved and my best friend and I were lugging around a ton of DVDs, comics and books from my various and vast collections, I realized I want to use my VUDU and Apple TVs more now, and get an iPad for digital comics and books. I shall NOT be a hoarder anymore. (wink) That's the future, and I said it 3 years ago after seeing the VUDU at CES 2008, even if I only half-believed it then.

One last thing, that 2 million licensed user number is people who bought the app, not "borrowed" it or stole it. So I'm sure there are way more FCP editors out there. On top of it, at the FCS 2 presentation at NAB 2007, they said there were around 800,000 - 900,000 licensed users. So in 4 years, they've more than doubled their user base. (Does it include Final Cut Express? I'm guessing yes.)

heath

Re: Thoughts on new FCP X Sneak Peek
 

Personally, my college path stopped short of a Mass Com degree in the 1970s - but as a former ad agency owner, I'll note that branding is functional ONLY if you have products that reflect CONGRUENTLY on the brand. If your brand is CHEAP - the goods HAVE to be cheap. If your brand is LUXURY - then your customers expect to pay a premium and be part of a more exclusive clientele, etc.

We've seen legions of internet pundits try to brand Apple products as "overpriced toys for dilettantes" but no matter how hard some argue for this view, sales, adoption and customer attitudes continue to prove that this view is abjectly wrong.

I'd personally sum up the apple BRAND today as way more than just "cool" because "cool" is transitory. I'd personally define the modern Apple brand as "technology products that inspire feelings of customer delight and consistently operate in a VERY approachable and satisfying fashion"

If FCP-X does that - its another big win for Apple. Simple as that.

And with the expertise and resources they have in Cupertino - I seriously suspect it will.

We'll see soon.

Re: Thoughts on new FCP X Sneak Peek
 

I think the target audience for a product like FCP is much different today than back when Apple orignally bought FCP. Do they want to make a product that just appeals to movie makers? Commercial? or everyone. Its been like 10 years since i-pods came out and most music is downloaded from the internet yet there are still stores that sell CDs you can download movies from multiple sources yet stores still sell DVDs & BR just because it makes sense to the "techies" of the world like us doesnt make it so. Personally id love to deliver my videos on a thumb drive and let the bride pop it in her media player but were not there yet and wont be for a long time. Personally I think Apple will release a BR solution I think they were even going that way at the end of FCP 7. I think all that stuff about BR being the past was Steve Jobs spinning the fact that they didnt want to put out the money to update DVDSP 4 to handle BR I think now that they are starting over that they will... at least I hope. I dont know what the hold up is there are tons of solutions on the Windows platform from cheap to hi-end.

Re: Thoughts on new FCP X Sneak Peek
 

My take on this is pretty simple...

Roughly 50% of our industry (all inclusive; all markets from Hollywood to wedding videographers to the small town video shop, etc.) edits video on a Mac. I don't think they chose the Mac just for editing video with it; I believe most Mac folks consider themselves primarily Mac folks regardless of video editing.

FCP dominates on the Mac side, and that's the only popularity battle it needed to win. Since the PC side is heavily fragmented between Premiere, Vegas, and Avid (and to a lesser degree by Edius, NewTek and others), FCP wins the "most popular" title overall by default. Too many good choices on the PC side prevent any one of them from rising to the top to emerge as the clear winner, as FCP did on the Mac side. Therefore FCP is the single most popular NLE of them all (Adobe wants to change that though).

FCP's market share would have been much less if the Mac platform itself weren't so prevalent within this industry -- unlike the consumer home computer world, where PCs still outsell Macs by a broad margin. But the fact is, in the world of video editing, it's roughly 50% Mac and 50% PC.

Re: Thoughts on new FCP X Sneak Peek
 

I agree Chris. Premiere, Edius, FCP Vegas to me are like clubs in a golf bag I pick the right one for the hole im on. Mini golf of course:) the problem im having is I use Edius for most of my editing I bought FCS for DVDSP 4 probably the best author tool on the market which why I want Apple to pick up the BR so badly. All those programs mentioned have one thing in common they all have a DVD author tool tied just for it. Edius's sucks! I need a good author tool im counting on Apple to come through. I-DVD BR would be perfect!:)

Re: Thoughts on new FCP X Sneak Peek
 

I'm loving Bill's posts and I like his definition of the modern Apple brand.

But I think Steve was right to try to sum up the brand in one word. The majority of marketers consider "Positioning" to be the best book on marketing - http://www.ries.com/images/archive/large/354-1.jpg - and positioning teaches that a brand has to stand for something in the mind of the consumer, usually a single word. Like with the different car brands. Over many years, Toyota came to own the word "reliability" in the mind. (Despite more recent troubles.) Volvo owns "safety". Mercedes is "prestige". And so on.

The only thing I disagree with Steve on, is the word "cool" to sum up Apple's positioning.

The word Apple owns in the mind is "aesthetic". Aesthetic is defined in the dictionary as "giving or designed to give pleasure through beauty; of pleasing appearance".

There were heaps of MP3 players on the market. Loaded with ugly buttons and complex menus. The iPod was very "late to the market" actually. Yet it was simple, elegant and beautiful in comparison. It concentrated on the aesthetics of the user experience. It took over the market. (After all, isn't listening to music an aesthetic experience?) A friend of mine is a computer tech and a real expert on PCs. I remember a couple of years ago he told me that even the internal layout and connections of the Mac (Mac Pro) were elegant and "beautiful" and he wished he could get his PCs configured similarly. The Mac OS (in the way OS X is laid out) is similarly aesthetic for the user experience and I think Microsoft have been smart in their recent releases to move away from a "functional" interface to one which has more of the OS X "look". Same story with the iPhone and especially the iPad. Tablets just never caught on, until Apple concentrated on a 100% aesthetic user experience.

So my vote is for the word "aesthetic" to sum up Apple's branding.

And because video editing is an aesthetic medium (as well as a technical one), I'm not surprised to find that there is a much higher percentage (50% according to Chris) on the Mac platform as opposed to the percentages in the consumer home market. Anyone in this business (shooting footage and editing it) has to be a curious mixture of artist and technician. You can't do one without the other. And that applies to both Mac and PC users.

Re: Thoughts on new FCP X Sneak Peek
 

Since the release of the iPad i see Apple as primarily a technology interface company.
They let us (humans) interface with technology more gracefully than any other.
Wether it's developing the latest hardware - touch screens, retina displays, touch pads, magnetic power cords; user interfaces; or developing whole frameworks as described in an earlier post - iPod / iTunes . . . they make technology more graceful and integrated.

And as far as branding . . . with some rare exceptions, when i think of Apple i think of Quality.

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I also think Chris has the essence correct. The creative industry was MAC based and Apple had the majority of software for the MAC. Now with the MAC really being an Intel PC and with the ability to run Windows programs on the MAC hardware a different competitive environment now exists. Adobe runs native on the MAC but all the other PC programs now have access to the MAC hardware/customers. There are lots of MAC users running Vegas and Edius on their MAC's so the competitive position for Apple FCP is now much greater than it has ever been.

To the one man shops not all have come from the esthetic side so some of these are pure PC based since there is a lot more software on the PC side and it is easy and cheaper to custom build a PC workstation specifically for a task in a home/business network.

The majority of consumers are PC based and they have the most cameras and these days may have more capable HD cameras than some of the professionals who may still be tape based on SD. Most of these cameras come with simple software and may even come with trials of a range of other software. Adobe Elements is the number 1 seller in this market if you can believe their claims. Elements has most of the features demonstrated in FCP X at $80 on the MAC. For $120 or so one also gets Photoshop Elements integrated with full Bluray and SD DVD creation. This is the PC world competition that Apple has not had to deal with until the Intel MAC's. It now has a lot more competition from all sides.

On the high end broadcast Apple has no hardware to integrate like Grass Valley with Edius for example.

I admit I am a PC user mainly because I like making my own PC with components I want rather than those Steve decides I need. Consequently FCP was never a choice for me. I have had no problems editing files from the MAC for other people and like the realtime performance of Edius my main editor though I do have Vegas and Adobe CS3 as well as a lot of others to choose from on my PC.

Ron Evans