OT: It's official -- Apple is NOT selling FCP

Not that anyone was really worried about them selling it off to Avid, but that rumor has finally been put to bed:

Apple: 1 million Final Cut licenses sold
"Apple on Thursday said that it has no plans discontinue its popular Final Cut software for video editing and post-production, after rumors began circulating at NAB that the company had plans to sell the software. Moving to quash rumors, the company told TVB Europe that the Apple had sold its millionth Final Cut Pro license and that its new Final Cut Server software is the company's latest addition to the product family: "I can categorically state, on the record, that is not the case," said Richard Townhill, Apple's director of marketing for professional video applications. The report also cites research by SCRI noting that Apple took 49 percent of the US professional editing market in 2007, while Avid took just 22 percent."

Full story: MacNN

_______________________________________
SCQT! Self-contained QuickTime ? pass it on!

Good for Richard. Very unlike Apple to comment on rumors, but in this case it was a rumor that started hurting the bottom line. I cant tell you how many times I heard of production houses having 2nd thoughts about "switching" or adding more FCP stations just because they believed this damn rumor. Real proud of all of you here in the Cafe who squashed it. Was one of the only places on the internet that did.

Michael Horton
-------------------

But I'm still waiting for the Mayor of NYC to announce that the Brooklyn Bridge is not for sale. Given I haven't heard that, it must be for sale.

No one's denying that the Dodgers are not moving back to Brooklyn either. Must be hurting LA season ticket sales, no?

Liverpool should not have been on sale... ((

Nice.

When life gives you dilemmas...make dilemmanade.

Not selling?

Damn, I wanted to buy one...

I still predict a big spinoff. I vote for MovieMaker, Inc.

- Loren
Today's FCP keytip:

Set your customized window layout 1 or 2 by holding Option then click
Window menu>Arrange>and select Set Custom Layout 1 or 2 !

Then use Custom Layout 1 or 2 with Shift-U or Option-U !

Final Cut Studio 2 KeyGuide? Power Pack.
Now available at KeyGuide Central.
www.neotrondesign.com

> Not selling?
> Damn, I wanted to buy one...

Lol. Turns out to be pretty bad news. I hate to use Ulead for broadcast.. Probably it's Vegas for us folks at LAVegasUG

And now Robert Cringely gets into this Rumor mill and fuels it with a spectacularly stupid argument. In short he says Apple was at NAB shopping the Pro-Apps because they are secretly looking to buy Adobe and wish to avoid antitrust violations. Oh, and Wall St. analysts believe that the pro-apps are not necessary for Apple's success so they should sell them off.

[www.pbs.org]

This rumor will not die. No wonder Apple rarely comments on rumors. What's the point?

And who is his source here? Who said Apple was at NAB shopping the pro-apps? Who saw a team of black T-shirts shopping the Pro_apps? Yeah, Apple was at NAB, but most of them were on stage at the SuperMeet or in the audience watching, or across the hall giving Final Cut Server demos or at lunch or dinner with potential customers. Who was shopping? And why do you need to go to NAB to shop?

This column is going to have a direct effect on Pro-app sales, meaning a whole bunch of people are going to believe Robert Cringely and will thus avoid future purchase. And why not? I'd not buy FCS if I believed it was being shopped.

Astounds me.

Michael Horton
-------------------

Cringely could be right to this extent: sooner or later Adobe is going to be a takeover target.

If memory serves, its stock price is highly vulnerable to economic recession, as advertising budgets tighten and people make do with the software they have.

The interesting question is who would want to buy it. If Aperture is any guide, it is quite probable that Apple already has a Photoshop competitor in the wings. What's left? The PostScript technology underlying Illustrator and especially Acrobat comes to mind.

Could the latter be of interest to Apple? Maybe. Consider the potential of a book-sized iPod touch as, among other things, an ebook reader. Certainly no gentleman would ever be seen in public using the device, if that is the word, that The Shopkeeper currently is attempting to visit upon the masses. That, in my view, would be an excellent reason for Steve to teach him a lesson.

Reading Cringley is usually entertaining because it's hubris fueled by a fair amount of knowledge. But he's crippled by an astonishingly large ego.

His predictions are frequently wrong and occasionally he will fess up to it.

I enjoy his column but consider it entertainment. Hopefully no one makes purchasing decisions on what Cringley says.

Cringely is someone you read if you only wish to keep your blood pressure high. There isn't one good argument in this column. It's insanely ridiculous.

Michael Horton
-------------------