Apple ships FCP X, defends position

I met with some folks from Apple yesterday, just a day after Final Cut Pro X was released, and almost as soon after the new release started coming under fire. "Judd" and "Luke" are both well versed in FCP X's new features and provided a pretty compelling demonstration showing why FCP is well suited for broadcast and independent film work.

First, let me say, that Apple reps did not want either demo artists to be quoted directly, and that their comments were for "background purposes" only. In fact, when I asked for names and titles, they kind of hemmed and hawed, and never actually answered. But this is a blog, and I'm allowed to report on my observations, right?

What they told me was interesting, and our conversation began with a review of the last 10 years of Final Cut, which was introduced in 1999 as a $999 product. Prior to this week's announcement, 2009 saw the latest upgrade, with Final Cut Studio, offering editing, motion graphics, DVD authoring and color correction tools.

They pointed out successes in the broadcast market with users at BBC, CNN, Fox News, Univision, Walt Disney, CBS, ABC, and Turner Studios, among others, and also pointed to the independent film world, where submissions have been accepted at Sundance, the NY Film Festival, Telluride, the Los Angeles Film Festival, and the Tribeca Film Festival.

On the feature film side, True Grit, with Jeff Bridges, and The Curious Case of Benjamin Button, were edited with Final Cut Pro, as was The Social Network, which won the Oscar this year for "Best Editing."

And sales have grown from a half million users in 2006 to more than 2 million in 2010. A Frost & Sullivan survey noted that while the video editing industry grew at a rate of 7 percent overall in 2010, the Final Cut Pro business grew by 15 percent. And a SCRI survey reports that 54 percent of professional broadcast and video post production houses are using Final Cut Pro, suggesting that they are the market leader. read more...