Was FCP X designed from the start to run on the New Mac Pro?

RedShark News

RedShark's Keith Stewart made a fascinating point in his excellent run-down of the Apple Fall press conference. Here's what he said:

"The most interesting proof point of this long term strategic approach is the pro line-up. Was the decision to radically rework Final Cut Pro, so intensely annoying to FCP7 users, made as the first step in a strategy to deliver a robust NLE partner for the Mac Pro precisely timed to the moment when 4K started to become a practical reality?"

If this were true, it would be intriguing because it not only shows how long Apple product development cycles are, but also that this Mac Pro has been in the wings, waiting for its time, for, probably, over three years. We're not saying here that it's been physically finished for that long, but that a radical new design might have been on the cards since then.

Looking Generations Ahead

We already know that the iPhone was several years in development, and that when work on it started, it would have been impossible to build. But, watching (and even anticipating) the trends as well as Apple does, when it was released in 2007, it was just on the boundary of possibility. Looking back at it, the first iPhone was pretty underpowered - even more so in perspective with the iPhone 5s, which isn't just five times more powerful; it's 56 times faster. In six years!

But that's not the point. The point is that the first iPhone was years ahead of anything else, and it didn't just work, it worked well enough to give people a great experience. (And anyone - including me - who still has an iPad One, will know how much of an antique it feels like. Seriously - it's too old to upgrade to the newer versions of iOS, and absolutely struggles with any number of common websites.) So when Apple starts to develop new products, they're not just looking at the next Apple "event"; they're looking multiple generations - probably three or four - ahead. read more...