Since Apple launched Final Cut Pro X last Tuesday, I’ve had more than 3,500 emails that range from “I’m enjoying FCP X and creating useful projects,” to “FCP X will destroy my ability to make a living.” (And, ah, far worse, I’m sad to say.)
When I first saw Final Cut X, I was excited by its potential, but warned Apple that this release would be intensely polarizing to the editing community. It does not give me pleasure to see that I was right.
Worse, Apple has alienated the very people who can make a very visible statement as to the inadequacy of the program. No clearer example can be found than the public ridicule of FCP X on the Conan O’Brien show.
Or, as David Pogue wrote in his New York Times blog: “…let me be clear on this point — I think Apple blew it.”
With the possible exception of the launch of MobileMe, I can’t think of an Apple product launch which has spun more wildly out of control than this one. Apple did not just blow this launch, they went out of their way to alienate their key customer base.
Which is a shame, because FCP X has such great potential — but now, Apple has to concentrate on damage control, rather than getting people excited about the new program.
After the launch, Apple compounded their problems with three extremely poorly timed moves:
1. Canceling Final Cut Studio (3) and pulling all existing product from the market. This is devastating to shops that can’t use Final Cut Pro X. The two applications can co-exist on the same system — killing FCP 7 will not boost sales of FCP X to those shops that can’t run it. All it does is set up a black market for FCP 7.
2. Not providing – then publicly stating (thru David Pogue’s New York Times blog) that they do not plan to provide – a conversion utility from FCP 7 to FCP X. Not only does this render a HUGE number of past projects inaccessible, it sets up the obvious conclusion that if Apple is willing to discontinue support for legacy applications with no warning, what’s to prevent them from doing so again in the future? Every time you watch a movie that is more than 6 months old, you are dealing with legacy assets. Not providing a conversion utility is completely inexcusable.
3. Leaving the support for interchange formats – XML, EDL, OMF and others – to third-parties; or not supporting them at all. Yes, the video and film industry needs to move into the current century. However, Hollywood is very reluctant to change what works. Meeting deadlines is far more important than adopting new technology. Apple’s walled garden approach is totally at odds with the nature of post-production, where the editing system is the hub around which a wide variety of other applications revolve. On any editing project I routinely run 5-10 other programs simultaneously — only three of which are from Apple. I am constantly moving data between programs. This, combined with a lack of support for network-based storage, highlight grave development decisions in determining what features to include in the program.
NOTE: Apple told Pogue that they are working on providing the specs for their XML API. This is essential for any third-party developer to access conversion “hooks” in the program. David didn’t report that they mentioned when this would be available, however.
When I was talking with Apple prior to the launch, they told me that they extensively researched the market to determine what needed to be in the new program. In retrospect, I wonder what people they were talking with.
As I was working with the program, developing my FCP X training series, I often felt that the program was developed for two different audiences. Some features, effects for instance, are clearly geared for the iMovie crowd, while others, like trimming or 4K support, are geared for pros. The program sometimes felt like it wasn’t sure what it wanted to be when it grew up.
In FCP X, Apple got some things amazingly right. But they also got key features amazingly wrong. And if they don’t change course, this software, which has significant potential, is going to spin further and further out of control. At which point, its feature set is irrelevant, its reputation will be set. We’ll be looking at another Mac Cube.
Apple does not normally ever comment on future products – though they did this year, prior to WWDC, because they needed to reset expectations. Because of the visibility of this product into an audience that can cause extensive PR damage to Apple, I suggest that Apple break its usual vow of silence and do three things:
1. Immediately return Final Cut Studio (3) to the market. If it is not compatible with Lion (and I don’t know whether it is or not) label it so. But put it back on store shelves so consumers have the ability to work with the existing version until FCP X is ready for prime time.
2. Fund the development of a conversion utility – either at Apple or thru a 3rd-party – and announce the development with a tentative release date.
3. Publicly announce a road-map for FCP X that just covers the next 3-4 months. Apple needs to be in damage control mode and the best way to defuse the situation is to communicate. Answering the question: “What features will Apple add to FCP X, and when?” will go a long way to calming people down.
I have written in my earlier blog (read it here) that FCP X has a lot of potential, and, for some, it meets their needs very nicely. I still believe that.
I was also pleased to provide training on FCP X so that new and existing users can get up to speed on it quickly.
I don’t mind helping a product develop into its full potential. I enjoy providing feedback and helping people to learn new software. I don’t even mind that FCP X is missing some features; this is to be expected in any new software.
But I mind a great deal being forced to adopt a product because other options are removed, forced to lose access to my legacy projects, and forced to work in the dark concerning when critically needed features will be forthcoming.
This launch has been compared to Coca-Cola launching New Coke – resulting in a humiliating loss of market share.
With Final Cut Pro X, however, the situation is worse — with New Coke, only our ability to sip soda was affected. With Final Cut Pro X, we are talking losing livelihoods.
Let me know what you think,
Larry
253 Responses to Apple's Challenges
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Mike Gilligan says:
June 27, 2011 at 8:24 pm
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Chaba Gryphon says:
June 27, 2011 at 8:35 pm
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San edit says:
June 27, 2011 at 9:15 pm
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Dylan Reeve says:
June 27, 2011 at 9:15 pm
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Mike Gilligan says:
June 27, 2011 at 9:34 pm
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Serena Herr says:
June 27, 2011 at 9:36 pm
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Chardday says:
June 27, 2011 at 9:59 pm
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Tim Coyle says:
June 27, 2011 at 10:08 pm
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ghyman says:
June 27, 2011 at 10:20 pm
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Terry S. says:
June 27, 2011 at 10:21 pm
← Older Comments Newer Comments →There are two kinds of reactions to FCPX: Uncle Joe who shot video on his trip to Florida. He likes it. The second group is made up of professional editors and they have two choices: Avid or Adobe.
I think Apple wants to get out of the professional editing business.
@TerryS – I’m sorry Terry but I completely disagree. Well, mostly disagree. At this point an estimated 50% of the industry is using FCP either as their main tool or as a secondary tool. That’s 1 out of 2 people who is working with editing software. I consider ANYONE to be a Pro who needs the extensive tools available in editing software, such as Avid, Premiere Pro, Final Cut etc. That includes students, indie film makers, Hollywood Pros, event and corporate editors and yes, even the teenager in his room or basement. To me anyone who needs the extensive tools for their project is a Pro, because they can not do the same thing with iMovie – for example.
Now, if I remember correctly Apple extensively courted the Hollywood editors and film makers. In fact, I think… I THINK I saw Coppola and his editor giving testimony on Apple’s FC page. Dean Devlin was on there too, and there were others too. So, for you to say that Apple never intended to position FC as a Pro application is kind of disingenuous. Of course they did. They wanted to make it appear legit in the eyes of the industry and used industry types to legitimize FC as an industry standard. We were there for them through thick and thin (remember how bad a shape Apple was in before they brought Jobs back?) and we helped them become the juggernaut they are today. And now we have become an inconvenience to them and they stab us in the back.
Nice work…
@ Terry S.
Please don’t tell me that they have “never EVER created it for the entertainment industry.” Maybe you missed the Cohen brothers piece they featured right on the Pro Apps homepage years ago (v.2 or 3 perhaps)??????? Seems odd they would do that if they weren’t going directly at the professional you have claimed against.
Editors (professional or not) are successful due largely in part to their experience level and the unique workflows, habits, best practices and creative nuances they have nurtured throughout their careers. A software maker has an obligation to the market to create a tool that is flexible enough for the editors (and all their different workflows, etc.) to function in a seamless, free flowing space. Doing this allows the work to shine at it’s brightest. The work; it’s what we’re paid to do. The software facilitates the work and gets the heck out of the way. It’s the software’s job to make it easier without announcing itself or being noticed. Until now Apple has done a great job of attempting this and improving on it. Editors and the people who pay them have noticed, and FCP has scooped up a major market share in Hollywood as well as the home studio.
Dumbing it down (or in your words Terry S. …” taking their most complicated program and making it even more practical and easier to use for any creative professional out there”) was not warranted and in fact moved FCP as far away from the working paradigm as possible. Less flexibility. Almost zero compatibility. It’s a version 1 software package, labeled as version 10. Expect anger for current users; don’t dismiss it.
The “define professional” argument is irrelevant to some extent.
Clearly there are many pros for whom FCP X will be a perfectly acceptable too. However for virtually all broadcast and film editors, especially larger facilities, the new FCP X is absolutely unusable now, and really requires a lot of work to be a contender.
However these users represent a minority of FCP (pre-X) installations, and an even smaller minority of the potential userbase for FCP X. It’s clear from looking at what has shipped that they were not a core consideration when this application was developed.
The problem is that these same users have been held up for the world to see in Apple marketing and promotion. They have built businesses on Final Cut Pro and helped it grow from it’s tiny beginnings to being effective one of two big players in the film and TV market. This release appears to be a clear sign from Apple that it’s not interested in what they do anymore and yet Apple haven’t been honest enough to stand up an say so.
They effectively hijacked an industry event and teased FCP X to these very users, refusing to answer questions and then delivered a product – carrying the same name, and a higher version number – that was useless to that market.
There are a few really unfortunate things here…
1) Apple’s trust in that market has been vaporised. Even if they start fixing some of the problems tomorrow it seems unlikely that the big players who had taken a chance on FCP all those years ago would do so again.
2) FCP X has some innovative ideas and is probably a really good application for it’s target market, but all that is overshadowed by this debacle.
3) Many people, perhaps even like Larry Jordan, who had built a reputation around FCP have had their reputations tarnished in some people’s opinions. I know of one consultant who has already lost his contract for having recently pushed a client toward a 10+ seat installation of FCP.
Larry,
Please do a tutorial on Adobe.
Hey Terry S.,
One thought for you: you say Apple never created Final Cut for Hollywood or broadcast in the first place, but honestly, look at their positioning and advertising for the past 3 years. It’s been nothing but “Cold Mountain this, Academy award that, Leverage this, Snips that, CNN this, Social Network that.” They have relied entirely on big films and broadcast accounts to credential this tool, and now they deliver a tool that cannot be used by those accounts for at least 2 years, with no clear upgrade path. Ya gotta admit, given their advertising and hype, it’s a tad disingenuous to suddenly say, “They never meant FCP to be used by you guys anyway!”
Film editing isn’t that complicated — it’s connecting a bunch of short video clips into one longer one. It didn’t need a revolution, just a speed bump. In any case, in art revolutions come from the painter, not the paint.
Lost in the rest of the outrage, did you know that the same day Apple released Final Cut Dad they also released an OSX update that broke Adobe’s Mercury Playback Engine on most CUDA-enabled Macs?
http://forums.adobe.com/message/3765931#3765931
Classy!
Larry,
Your latest blog hits the bulls eye. If Apple expects us all to bow down to how they view the industry (both video and audio), they have another thing coming. I was SO excited about this update, but am now left searching for what to switch to now.
The discontinuing of DVD Studio Pro is a HUGE deal for me as for now that is where I do most of my work. The current version has not been updated in years and has some serious bugs. I know Steve Jobs feels that the DVD is Dead, but the reality is that its still a big part of the movie industry and many other people use this media for delivery of their projects and videos.
I can’t believe Apple has delivered this product and tried to push this as anything but CONSUMER base.
There’s something else troubling with all of this that no one has touched upon. That is the total dearth of information about FCPX on Apple’s web site. In the past, Apple provided video tutorials, detailed web pages explaining features, and included testimonials from professional editors. There was a sense of pride in how Apple marketed its pro apps. The company wanted potential uses to know everything about their software. With FCPX we get one demo movie, some screen shots, and only a cursory explanation of the new features. With a product so different than its predecessor, you’d think Apple would be even more aggressive in providing info on how to use and migrate to the new app. Why have they not done this? The pages for Motion and Compressor are even more minimal. It feels like Apple simply isn’t interested in this market or it’s customers any more. I hope this isn’t true because I support Apple trying to rethink how NLEs should work, but their behavior leads me to feel they just don’t care.
I think you all are getting too comfortable with how the workflow has been in Final Cut Pro releases through version 7. Apple has basically thrown a huge splash of cold water at us and woke us up to the fact that we probably better move onto better ways of editing and output – 21st Century editing and output. Tape is dying fast and Network TV will have to eventually face that. File-based formats are strongly becoming the norm and at least Final Cut Pro X has addressed that.
Tell me, would you prefer to continue editing DSLR footage in FCP 7? It’s a real pain isn’t it? Well being that’s the current wave of indy filmmaking, heck even George Lucas appreciates and uses the medium, Apple had to rise to the challenge to make an app that could work very well with that form of content. I know many indy filmmaker friends who will now jump from Adobe Premiere CS5 to Adobe Final Cut Pro X just over that feature.
Now DVD Studio Pro, Color, Soundtrack Pro; well do not give up on those so quick. My gut tells me that Apple may have next-generation solutions for them too, it just may take a little more time. The advantage of the file-based download/installs of software – there is no pressure to release everything out at once. Apple may not see a future in Blu-Ray media, maybe they know what’s going to replace that. Who knows what’s in-store next.
Lets all stop digging around in the ground complaining about what we have no control over and start climbing out and up the ladder to success in our field. CHANGE IS NOT BAD! Don’t panic just adapt, learn, and evolve. And Larry Jordan here can help us all do that – Right Larry?
Take care all.