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
← Older Comments Newer Comments →-
Dylan Reeve says:
June 26, 2011 at 5:46 pm
-
Chris Fenwick says:
June 26, 2011 at 6:01 pm
-
ron sussman says:
June 26, 2011 at 6:01 pm
-
Peter says:
June 26, 2011 at 6:03 pm
-
Ron Priest says:
June 26, 2011 at 6:03 pm
-
David Kowalski says:
June 26, 2011 at 6:22 pm
-
Larry says:
June 26, 2011 at 6:34 pm
-
DC Reels says:
June 26, 2011 at 6:24 pm
-
Josh says:
June 26, 2011 at 6:26 pm
-
Larry says:
June 26, 2011 at 6:37 pm
-
Barry says:
June 26, 2011 at 6:35 pm
-
Patrick McElroy says:
June 26, 2011 at 6:40 pm
-
Larry says:
June 26, 2011 at 6:48 pm
← Older Comments Newer Comments →Larry,
Thanks for the great post. It has been perplexing to know that knowledgeable pros like yourself were consulted quite a while ago about this product, and yet this was the outcome. To read about your surprise with some of the decisions helps put that into perspective.
It’s hard to imagine just might what happen going forward – the cynic in me says that Apple with do nothing and not worry about the comparatively small market they stand to lose in the face of the much much bigger potential market for FCP X as it is.
However it’s also hard to imagine that they won’t be compelled to do something to try and stem this bad PR that is now starting to leak into the mainstream media in a surprising way.
I agree with all of your points about what Apple should do going forward. If I had to pick the single biggest failing in their handling of this launch it would be the EOLing of FCS3/FCP7. Although I also think they should have taken the opportunity at the SuperMeet to set expectations earlier.
Well stated Larry.
I’m also bugged by the fact that alegedly Randy Ubilos came forward and said, “this is not the end, it is the beginning.” This is the type of internal hype generation that Apple employees are VERY good at creating. I’ve seen them sit in a circle, where one person throws out a marginal idea, and then they go around the room with each tentatively agreeing. Then once they see that the idea is “acceptable” (not good mind you just acceptable) then they start around the room patting each other on the back. Then they start chest thumping like a silver back about how awesome they are and then by the time they leave the room, they have forgotten that one person ever had anything bad to say. It gets swept under the rug and forgotten.
Randy saying, “its the beginning not the end” without the others around him telling him how “awesome” he is just sounds pathetic.
Randy, I’ld like to invite you to come see how we use your product in a facility that deals with multiple projects, for multiple clients, over a network!
I get it, you went skiing 6 years ago and decided it was hard to ‘set up your project’ and wanted a simpler way to get started. You see Randy, there is a difference between someone who edits and and EDITOR. Had you asked some of us EDITORs how WE set up our resources, you may have left well enough alone.
As for the the fact that “they extensively researched the market to determine what needed to be in the new program.” I call BS. Total crap. There is NO WAY Apple “extensively researched the market”… at least, not by what a reasonable person would discribe as “extensive”.
Maybe what they mean by “extensive research” is that they asked 2 or 3 people who didn’t know CRAP an “extensive” amount of questions.
This is a sad day for Apple. Even Willie Wonka has to keep in touch with the kids so he doesn’t make crap candy. You HAVE to keep in touch with the client base…
Oh well… Now what?
Those who know me know my feelings about FCPX. I went from hopeful optimism to outright anger and began wondering if I should buy a PC because I am so mad at Apple that I don’t want to give them anymore of my money. I cut everything from commercials to documentaries to corporate video. I am a little annoyed by some of the comments here belittling corporate video. I have cut Corporate videos with bigger budgets than most national commercials. The creative demands in the corp. world are actually great as the editor is responsible for much more than a simple cut. Cutting corporate work requires skills in motion graphics, color correction and audio and let me firmly say that FCPX is NOT up to the task in that arena at all. Apple has effectively abandoned he entire professional editorial market with FCPX. I have made a very successful living using Apple products for over 20 years. I think that may have just ended. There is little Apple can do to reinstate my trust at this point.
Hello Larry,
thank you for the open words. I personally don’t like FCP X, regardless of the missing features that make it useless for my type of work. But that is just a matter of taste and opinion. What really annoys me is the way Apple is handling this from start to finish. They show up at the event in April, tell everyone they care about pro apps, boast about their market share in the editing worlds – and then come up with this, followed by total silence and the incredible move to EOL the old FCP 7 from one minute to the next without any kind of warning or anouncement. We used to joke about Microsoft’s business practises; boy were we naive.
I am seriously pissed with Apple, been using their stuff for 20 years, but I think maybe the time has come to reconsider. This is not the company they used to be, or maybe they always were and we just didn’t see it. The Apple is starting to smell very rotten to me. Alternatives are out there, I am moving on.
Great read Larry, thanks for writing it. I sure hope Apple heeds to your recommendations, especially this one”
“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.”
I simply can’t for the life of me comprehend why Apple would even consider an upgrading OS X to Lion and it not be compatible with FCP 7. If this is the case, I hope Apple at least has the decency to warn us ahead of time before we make the fatal mistake of upgrading to Lion. What a mess that would be!
Has there been any official information regarding whether FCP7 will work under Lion?
I would check to see if the only other viable alternatives, Avid and Adobe are going to work with the upcoming Lion OS……
I for one have been brushing up on my Premiere Pro skills again, using the optional FCP keyboard shortcut set.
I know that sounds very conspiratorial and paranoid, but in light of what has happened in the last few days, It might not be so farfetched to find out after updating your OS that you have no choice…
My STRONG!!! recommendation is NOT to upgrade to Lion when it ships. Wait at least three months for everyone to figure out what broke and what needs to be upgraded!!
Larry
Well said, Larry.
Apple has a LOT of work to do now.
1. Figure out what FCPX is and make the necessary changes quickly (including support for legacy users)
2. Communicate those goals as loudly and clearly as possible
3. Reconsider the fate of the FCS3 programs
4. Bridge the loss of trust w/their customers, esp. the professionals
The coding is the easy part, the other stuff is extremely difficult and out of character for Apple, so it’ll be interesting to see what they do.
Apple bit the hand that not only feeds them but the hand that can complain on a very public stage. Public perception isn’t the walled garden that FCPX is. They have to fix both. And soon.
Larry, I agree with article, but I’m a little upset it took public outcry for you to write this article. As a long time Apple user and trainer, and someone familiar with professional workflows, your first blog post following the release should have stated all of these issues. I know you are trying to sell a training product in the short term, but in the long term no one may be interested in FCP anymore on a pro level with all of these glaring issues. The fact that you rescinded your earlier comment about this not being ready for pro workflows, is ridiculous, because your initial reaction was clearly correct, it is not ready. Again, I don’t mind workflow changes, or even relearning if the product were usable and Apple had any idea whatsoever of what pro workflows are. Yes, there are some great innovative new features, but I can’t take this current iteration of the program seriously and therefore can’t take advantage of them.
There are many features missing, which you have named, there are also tons more that have received little or no attention. For instance, what about film workflows. You get your dailies on DV tapes, sure file dailies are possible, but much more expensive. For TV commercials, agencies are often unwilling to pay for this extra cost. First of all, you can no longer log clips and capture, which means an assistant would be sitting and doing capture now for hours. Then it comes time to recapture your clips high-res. Well no D5 or HDCAM(SR) deck support, no EDL support, no XML support. Even if you do get xml support, your DV footage is 29.97, so if you are shooting 24, then there is way to convert back. No more cinema tools to convert the EDL to different frame rates (and with FCP7, yes this has to be an EDL not an XML). Even if you manage to figure all of that out, which you won’t, you can’t even lay off a tape to ship! Yes, that is right, in a pro workflow, tapes are still king. Sure this will change, but not yet, and pros won’t wait around 5 years ( or even 1) for apple to get it together, especially without any kind of roadmap. (Yes, I know you can use the AJA utility, but that is time-consuming, and ridiculous) Also, I haven’t heard any mention of the loss of nesting. Don’t’ get me wrong, nests were buggy and annoying in FCP7, but they did offer one great feature. You could have a master sequence that could be versioned as many times as you needed. Lets say you have a commercial, with 20 different phone numbers, you could have one master sequence and put it into other sequences to version. Compound clips are great, and much more elegant than nests, with one major drawback. They are merely collapsing your clip. So if you have to change one shot in your edit, you would have to do it in 20 different versions, which in FCPX would have be 20 different projects.
You said you have no idea who apple talked with before making this program, and I do have some idea, because I was lucky enough to go to a meeting with a group of AICE editors in NY to discuss features and issues we had wanted implemented and resolved with the next FCP. We met with heads of the final cut, compressor, and motion teams. Not one user asked for EDL support to be removed, nor XML. Not one users asked to be sandboxed inside of one app with no ability to move out. Not one user asked for the loss of multiple sequences per project or for FCP to decide how we should edit.
Perhaps its time to start taking up Premiere Pro and Media Composer training courses, because despite some of the great new features of FCPX, no pro can even be concerned about “the good” at this time, because the bad just makes this product unusable.
Anyway, I’m glad you have finally come around, and hopefully you have Apple’s ear, because they have dug themselves a very deep grave and will need some major damage control if they want their “pro” apps to ever be reincarnated. Of course getting their user’s trust back may be a much harder thing.
Josh:
Simply in my defense, when I wrote my first blog, I wrote about everything I knew at that time. A lot has happened since the release that I was not informed of until it happened.
Larry
Larry,
I think you have it wrong. They didn’t make a mistake. They made a conscious choice to service the advanced non-broadcast user and leave the rest of us behind. It makes sense with their business model. It also makes sense that they wouldn’t announce that fact.
They planned this move. They knew there would be a fuss. But they also knew that they were out of the broadcast business, so they can’t too much if the broadcast folks hate them now. Apple is too smart a company to have not understood what they were doing.
It’s a great move. I’m buying Apple stock. And Adobe Premiere.
Larry,
I don’t get any of this. I am a pro editor and colorist and I’ve built my entire career on these applications that I’ve found to be really incredible tools. This weekend I was shuttling drives back and forth with sound engineers, directors, graphics people, assistant editors, and I started to think about the amazing workflow that Final Cut has managed to achieve. Color is an amazing tool and I don’t think Apple understands that at all. I’m not really sure you do either if you think that the software included in Imovie pro could ever do it’s job. It’s really a ridiculous situation that makes ZERO sense, and it’s pretty offensive that you are even slightly pretending it does. Be honest with us now, does someone at Avid have Anthony Wiener type pictures of Steve Jobs? Are they blackmailing him into surrendering the professional editing market? Because I can tell you with 100% certainty thats what they have just done, and I really don’t get it. Would love to hear your thoughts even if they are slightly compromised…..
Patrick:
All my current thinking is in this blog – right now, it is all up to Apple.
I am very curious to see what they decide to do…
Larry