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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nickeditor says:
June 28, 2011 at 3:57 pm
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fuddled says:
June 28, 2011 at 6:14 pm
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Techwizard says:
June 28, 2011 at 6:23 pm
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Terry says:
June 28, 2011 at 9:23 pm
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FCPX says:
June 28, 2011 at 10:01 pm
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Russell Lord says:
June 28, 2011 at 10:48 pm
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Patrick Morrow says:
June 28, 2011 at 11:29 pm
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Richard Boyd says:
June 29, 2011 at 1:30 am
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DavidH says:
June 29, 2011 at 6:20 am
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Danny says:
June 29, 2011 at 6:24 am
← Older Comments Newer Comments →Hello Larry,
It seems that Final Cut X can not conform, pass from offline Media to online Media, right?
I’m very worried about this
Regards
Apple will be dropping the MacPro if they don’t resolve this. With this new FCP market share jumping onto Premiere, Adobe will eventually cease MacOS versions of its CS Production suite, excepting Photoshop perhaps. Actually, I think Apple would be happy to only make iMacs, as they update the MacPro once every 18 months.
Apple Silence continues. We all know it takes time to gather the troops and formulate a response. But nothing at all and everyone has a gag order. Their loyalty is crumbling by the hour by thousands of people with $$ to spend on current and future apple products. Guess its just not important to them.
P.S. – Am looking at my iPhone from a different point of view today.
@Chaba Chaba, Hey Chaba – Come on now. I am not trying to start a war with you on this matter. I am just was trying to post something positive among the sea of negativity on Larry Jordan’s blog. And do not call me an amateur, I run a Post-Production facility with a heavy emphasis on editing, motion graphics, and visual effects. We service the commercial, educational, live-event, and the entertainment industries. Sure our company may not be a post-facility in Hollywood or its’ counterparts, but that does not make us any less professional than you. So please do not toss around terms around like that.
I have 12 years editorial experience with Final Cut Pro, along with a strong photography and videographer background. I’ve used Motion since its release at Siggraph 2004 in Los Angeles, finding more freedom with the app over Adobe After Effects with Motion’s fast render engine. I never loved Soundtrack Pro but some of my editors and sound designers do, plus we use AVID Pro Tools and Apple Logic in our facility as well. And hell, I am PROUD to call myself an Apple Evangelist, since I have been using Macs my entire life. Nothing against the PC, I am comfortable enough to use them as well for work, but prefer the mac over PC any day.
Now all that being said, I cannot expect Apple to deliver everything I need. And I cannot expect Apple to cater to my career needs. Apple is going to do what they want to do, and I have NO control over that. What I can control is that I embrace new software and technology with an open mind. If I do not like it – then I do not use it. So far I like what I see in FCP X for some of the projects we do, for others I do not. I will not toss it back to Apple for a refund like some are. But I will just use it for what it works best for.
Granted, it’s not for Broadcast TV or high-end film. It may never be. Then again it may be down the road. Time will only tell. Now my few, but serious objections are – the pressured recall of all boxed copies of Final Cut Studio 3 from major retailers and suppliers, lack of EDL & OMF support (XML – much better version and Multi-Cam – far better version, are on the way according to what Philip Hodgetts was told at his visit with the FCP X dev team), and how they are dealing with many 3rd party dev who wish to create plug-ins for FCP X by giving them the silent treatment. I will definitely agree with you all that Apple should have handled this better, but I am afraid that’s just how the cookie crumbles. That cookie may just be Apple’s Broadcast & High-End film customer base.
But frankly, I do not think Apple is worried about that happening. They have 2 million registered users. Unless 500,000 or more make the petition list, it probably will not sway them to do anything. It may happen. If it does, then I will gladly tip my hat to the greater Hollywood community for swaying the giant brand. My only fear is that this will just hurt Hollywood more than help it. After the screenwriters strike, the stalemate between the Actor’s Guild and the Studios, then the closure of the 20th Century Fox studio lot, how much more can this industry take. It may be just better to switch to another tool set. For the facilities that have Adobe Production Suite CS5 that will be less of a burden than a move to AVID. Has anyone checked out Media 100 lately. It’s still a very very professional video application. The team at Boris have done a wonderful job to keep it alive and viable. Maybe they saw this coming? Who knows.
Take Care. I hope you won’t stay mad at me Chaba – I would really like to make you a friend of mine in this industry.
That goes for David H too. You made good points on Apple’s Pro Marketing, and ever since at least FCP 3 they certainly have marketed it to the entertainment industry.
Take care all. Lets just see how this plays out. My gosh its has only been a week since FCP X’s release. Let;s see what happens in a month from now.
Developers have found that FCPX does support XML but Apple did not enable the feature yet: http://translate.google.com/translate?js=n&prev=_t&hl=pt-BR&ie=UTF-8&layout=2&eotf=1&sl=pt&tl=en&u=http%3A%2F%2Fmacmagazine.com.br%2F2011%2F06%2F28%2Farquivos-internos-do-final-cut-pro-x-comprovam-que-apple-esta-trabalhando-em-suporte-a-xml%2F%3Futm_source%3Dwebsite%26utm_campaign%3Dwordtwit%26utm_medium%3Dweb
Larry,
I’m really very, very surprised and extremely disappointed by what Apple has done with this release. Although I made the clean break to Adobe Production Premium fifteen months ago, I have been a FCP user for over 12 years. Let’s hope the damage control team gets it right. They better move fast.
How can I use Motion 4 still for round tripping, after installing Motion 5? Help!!!
As far as I can tell the “professionals” that Apple consulted with were probably event videographers shooting and editing weddings and bar mitzvahs. Not to dismiss those jobs – we’ve all done them at some point in time – but they just aren’t terribly demanding on editing software and they fit perfectly with the direction that FCX is going.
However in the world that I work in, I need a dedicated audio platform to editing and sweeten and fine tune a mix. I need to be able to export to AE or Smoke for effects and compositing work. I need to send my projects to a true color correction station – that can actually show me a final picture. I need to be able to archive my projects and re-open them 6 months or a year later. And, I need to be able to pull footage off of the hundreds of tapes in have in my library and occasionally I need to be able to export to tape for a client.
I’m not whining, I’m simply stating facts of life. As cool as FCX may be, it’s not even close to being able to complete a serious high end project. This isn’t about not wanting to learn new software, this is about continuing to earn a living – a difficult enough job without my software supplier jerking me around.
The sad thing is that Apple HAS to know this. They aren’t stupid. They just don’t care.
As an FCP Studio 3 owner who uses Final Cut Pro 7, Color, Motion, Sound Track, Compressor most often and does not have to work everyday in a collaborative environment I should be a prime customer for Final Cut Pro X–except that to FCP X all projects in FCP 7 are suddenly outcasts thrown from the train.
Plus, I enjoyed using third-party Effects and Templates genius companies had developed that I could plugin and not have to create from scratch. That FCP X immediately invalidates tons of well paid-for plugins is another huge issue that Apple should have felt indebted to create alternatives for. Such as releasing the hooks and specs necessary to create an FCP X version of some famously used plugins long before the release of FCP X.
But the more now that I look at Adobe’s hard-driving declaration to be IN the PostProduction business as an Industry Standard, such as voiced by Jim Guerard, vice president and general manager, Professional Video for Adobe, the more they are making me think, especially since I already use Photoshop. Especially since a lot of the plugins I use for Final Cut Pro 7 have Premiere and AE versions or will ALREADY work in Premiere Pro right now.
Guerard is not the most riveting of on-camera presenters…in other words, stay with this until the end!
(also, the direction and editing, is, to me, a partial fail at “storytelling”, but I tried to look beyond that at how I, MYSELF, would use these Adobe products)
http://provideocoalition.com/index.php/adobe/story/adobes_vision_for_professional_video/
and Then, look at the setup with Thunderbolt (Light Peak) Adobe Premiere had at an exhibition….
Where was Apple as far as cozying up to professional editors? Pay attention to the 4k files stacked on each other yet playing un-rendered from the timeline..
Adobe has really been appealing to professional editors to step into the light..
http://vimeo.com/22566585
Impressive. And Final Cut has no answer. Still.
I purchased Larry’s tutorials for FCP X first or second day when they were available. BTW, great tutorials Larry, as usual… The very next day I started to look for PremierePro CS5.5 tutorials (as I’m a FCP user fro the last 3 years). A day later I moved to PP. Goodbye FCP, was nice meeting you but it looks like you don’t need me anymore !