Apple pulls out of NAB

It's been happening worldwide to trade shows. Panasonic pulled out of IBC a year or two ago as well. The return on investment of attending a trade show is not making economic sense for more and more companies. There are other, better ways to employ those dollars to reach customers.
 
mcgeedigital said:
FCPro is kicking Avid's keister on a daily basis.

At the last NAB, Avid's booth had almost no clients in it, whereas Apples was overflowing/standing room only.

Avid announced that they weren't going to NAB at all this year.

What does that tell you?
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Oh Snap !
 
When Avid announced they weren't going to NAB, people started sounding the death knell, saying that the bells of doom were ringing, etc. Maybe so, but with Apple pulling out it kind of legitimizes Avid's decision, doesn't it?

Consider that Panasonic Europe quit IBC, but since then they've been winning about 80% of all tapeless broadcast sales across Europe. So maybe Avid (and Apple) pulling out of NAB doesn't necessarily portend anything bad at all for either. Although it certainly isn't good for the NAB show.

We used to have a massive show in Las Vegas, one of the two or three biggest conventions of the year, called COMDEX. Disappeared completely over the course of a couple of years. NAB might want to now take steps to make sure they remain relevant, because if a few more major booths pull out, they could end up on the ropes.
 
Agree with Barry and lets face it, Apple have already updated FCS, released the air book, released leopard, released the mac pro, itouch (gadget of the year in my book) and iphone right now is sales time and they are happening. The word is already out.
 
milksac said:
Oh Snap !
Click to expand...

Very different client base. Consumer customers yes high end film no, broadcast could go either way. Apples problem is that they want to do everything them selves and thus don't play well with others. This is fine in small productions but a major problem with a big production where a LOT of people have to work together on a lot of specialized systems. Until Apple embraces a professional attitude with regard to third party support they are always going to have an up hill battle in the pro market.
So if you want to short sell Avid stock let me know I'm sure I can find the money to cover that bet.
 
Another forum I hang out at, emotiondv, is talking about this too. One user brought up some startling info:

Apple's apparent decision to withdraw from the NAB show floor is just one more hint that their commitment to the pro video market is waning. Development on products like Final Cut Server, already 6 months overdue, and a replacement for the discontinued Shake, has obviously ground to a halt (NAB would be the place to release this software were it expected to be complete). The recent release of QuickTime 7.4 that disabled export from Adobe's After Effects but more significantly disabled the RED camera workflow is indicative of their focus on consumer products and indifference to the Pro Video market (Adobe is a competitor, but RED is supposed to be a partner). The last release of FCP 6 had some significant bugs, not unusual in a x.0 release, but none-the-less fixes took an inordinate amount of time because of Leopard development. With AVIDs withdrawal from NAB Apple had the opportunity to be front and centre and not even need to say "We're #1!" The press would make that observation for them and be all over any announcements Apple had to make at NAB. But Apple has said no to NAB, no to announcements, and likely no to new product releases. To top it all off, strong rumours persist that Apple is looking to sell off their Pro Video apps.

What? Apple sell Final Cut Pro? There are plenty of rumours on the web (see just one) that indicate this might be exactly where things are going. No one has missed that Apple has been focusing more on consumer products because that is where they see their market growth. It may simply be that they don't see the return-on-investment to justify the development costs of the Pro Video apps any longer. Apple makes money selling hardware, they sell software to sell hardware, and the Mac Pro makes up less and less of Apple's computer sales. How many of those dwindling sales are dependent on the Pro Video Apps? Maybe someone at Apple is doing the math, and the cost of continued development and marketing does not justify the sales being generated. Apparently the ROI does not justify a trip to NAB for Apple, though it does for companies, big and small, like Panasonic, Sony, Adobe, AJA, Red, CalDigit, etc that are committed to continued growth in the pro video marketplace.

Obviously this is a worst-case scenario, admittedly wild speculation, and the sale of the Pro Video apps does not spell the end of them. But it cannot be denied that unless you live in LA or New York (Apple roadshow destinations), your opportunities to learn more about Final Cut Studio just greatly diminished with the withdrawal of Apple from NAB. When trying to build a client base and continue breaking into a market you don't pull out of the major show of the year (just ask the above listed companies that will be at NAB). Despite Apple apologist claims (and I usually am one), post production houses do not make purchase decisions based on web videos. If, however, selling FCP doesn't matter anymore...

I have already had one client who was considering switching to FCP cancel upcoming training and consulting; the current insecurity in the future of FCP was too much a risk for them. Maybe they simply have seen the writing on the wall.

I hope I am way off base here. I wish I believed I was.
Click to expand...

Just some more food for thought.
 
What piece of tripe. Food for thought? C'mon.

Imagine a release of QT that doesn't cause issues with something.

Apple has never sold a piece of software it has developed.

It has purchased several expensive companies in the last year or so and then integrated that software into FCS2, ie Color.

Installed seats are close to 1 million in FCP. It's scalable architecture, unlike AVID.

Your cited information is selling fish wrap in my opinion.

AVID pulls out of NAB and now Apple. Imagine that.

The writer hopes he is way off base here. Be careful what you wish for.
 
This is a little like my response on audio lists to the next"Pro Tools Killer", one comes along every year. THe problem with all of them is that they are not "in the business". I don't think Apple is going to dump pro apps but if they did it's a minor part of the business. ProTools is all Digi does, well PT and PT add-ons.
One of the strangest rumors I saw was Apple selling FCP to Avid...8~O. That makes no sense at all but people like to speculate. Apple was advertising for an external editor for FC Server a few weeks back so my guess is that they are a few months from having something to show and they just unveiled a bunch of new stuff and they didn't feel the need to go to NAB with out something new to show. Plus with Avid not there they don't lose points in the whose got the bigger NLE game. Also recently they have been announcing sort of in the off beat. Like the big announcement BEFORE Mac World. Folks who buy Pro apps have to spend more money on hardware. So even though the Pro Apps are not a big part of the bottom line I bet if you connect them to the hardware sales it starts to get noticeable. What I could see is them spinning off the Pro Apps like they did with FileMaker. That would allow them (the Pro Apps) to have the kind of focus that could get pro's more interested.
And lastly I bet someone got there PP slapped over the QT issues. It's a HUGE company and like all huge companies they don't always talk to each other as much as they should. I don't know but I would bet that the things that got broken were missed because whoever made the change was sure it would have no effect on XY&Z so in all the hustle over getting Mac World going things that were not supposed to be affected weren't checked as throughly as the should have been. I mean if you change a tire you don't normally check to see if your tail lights still work. Digi and Avid have all had releases that were ah, not great. PT 7.4 had a CS release the day they went on sale, so...
Not being in the software biz I can't tell you how long it takes to test this kind of thing but PT is a pretty good benchmark (since they, well Avid, are not on good terms with Apple and don't get to start testing till they can buy a copy of Apple products like OS's, at least that's been their excuse). Anyway it takes Digi 6-9 months to check PT and certify it for use on a new Apple OS. Some times quicker on minor OS fix releases. Now they are only checking a ONE piece of software, Imagine how long it takes to check all the apps Apple makes that use QT.

I don't think FCP is going to seriously move in on Avids Pro user base with out some attitude adjustment but I also don't think FCP is going away, or actually that Apple is seriously looking at selling it off.
 
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Well, I think it's a bit premature to say Apple's selling off FCP to Avid or any such thing. But it's interesting to note that last quarter, Apple sold as many iPhones as they did Macintosh computers, and they sold 10x as many iPods. I don't know what the breakdown of revenues is for professional software apps versus all these other divisions, but we do know that Apple prioritized the iPhone over Leopard and everything else when they pulled developers off those other teams to finish the iPhone on time. So if the professional software division represents a tiny sliver of the overall pie, but carries with it necessarily much more support and headache hassle, it's not inconceivable that they could decide it isn't worth the hassle. I guess it all depends on whether it's delivering huge growth and massive profits, or if (compared to the rest of the Apple pie) it's just a tiny fringe side thing. Sure seems like it's been growing rapidly.
 
This is interesting...I have always said that if Apple was serious about their SOFTWARE they would make FCP cross platform...Final cut and all other MAC software apps exist to force you into a mac hardware purchase. Pro apps have demanding clients and are expensive to develop and at the end of the day everyone wants an ipod and a much smaller percentage even know what an NLE is.
Crazier things have happed...Can you imagine how crazy you would of looked if you had said 10 years ago that in a decade Apple will be the #1 seller of portable music players and the third largest music retailer in the us. Apple is not afraid to follow the revenue trail no matter where it may lead.

Apple has switched directions before...I don't think pro apps are going anywhere anytime soon, but this is an interesting rumor to keep are eyes on. .
 
Apple bails on NAB?

Apple bails on NAB?

AVID and Apple had great "corporate speak" why they were not going to NAB, but I think it's a big mistake.

AVID's target is big broadcast boys which is what NAB has always been.
Apple has dominated the independents and that is what I see so many of in recent years.

It doesn't effect me much since I don't use either, but man, this surprised me.
I wonder how many companies that struggle to be at the show will see this as a sign that NAB isn't a must?
 
Does it really make no sense for avid to buy apple?

A large part of Avids current income stream is network, Unity and Isis. FCP has taken a bog cut into thier NLE sales, so why not buy them and bring the stray lambs back to the flock.

Avid buying Adobe? Well sure is a lot of synergy there for Avid.

But the big question is anyone really selling. I heard this past summer that Adobe was in talks with Apple about a possible merger/buyout.

Anyway here's a link to another article about it.

http://www.studiodaily.com/blog/?p=412
 
I don't think Apple has taken that big a chunk out of Avid's sales for a couple of reasons.
First FCP Only runs on a Mac. I love Mac's but most of the corporate world out there is on PC's. Avid as you say is big on networking, something very important to broadcasters, FCP doesn't do that, yet. Films with any kind of budget are cut 99% on Avid not FCP. THe place where FCP has really gotten market share is in LOW budget films and even videographer. The low budget edge has dulled of late because there is very good competition in that range. At the bottom you have a slew of consumer/ semi presumer NLE's like Premiere Pro and Vegas and at the upper end you have Avid with it's entry level products (and excellent upgrades BTW). For event videographer I suspect that FCS has a BIG chunk, because they hand you the whole package. Nobody else is handing you a package as powerful as FCS. I can see pros buying FCS just to get Color, that was an $18,000 app when Apple bought it. Most of this market was probably on Media 100 systems, at least that's the change I saw. I don't know of many Avid editors "switching".
Apple has problems in the high end market, film and broadcast.
Media management is probably #1
Networking (sort of connected to #1) would be #2
And playing well with others would be #3

Right now FCS media management sucks. Networking (as in cooperatively working on a project) is virtually nonexistent, you can distribute renders and compression, you can send to other apps in the suite but it's only real smooth if all the apps are on the same system. And you have to jump through hoops to work with apps out side the FCS. Last version they started using a new "file type" CAF files that nobody else can read.... You get the feeling that IF they ever sit down and discuss how new features will affect compatibility with third parties that the less compatible choice is the "right" one.

The only reason I could see for Avid to buy FCS would be to shelve it, well FCP anyway. They could re-brand the rest of FCS I guess. Hard to see how it makes sense.
 
jason.adams said:
This is interesting...I have always said that if Apple was serious about their SOFTWARE they would make FCP cross platform...Final cut and all other MAC software apps exist to force you into a mac hardware purchase. Pro apps have demanding clients and are expensive to develop and at the end of the day everyone wants an ipod and a much smaller percentage even know what an NLE is.
Crazier things have happed...Can you imagine how crazy you would of looked if you had said 10 years ago that in a decade Apple will be the #1 seller of portable music players and the third largest music retailer in the us. Apple is not afraid to follow the revenue trail no matter where it may lead.

Apple has switched directions before...I don't think pro apps are going anywhere anytime soon, but this is an interesting rumor to keep are eyes on. .
Click to expand...

I can't disagree....of course, when Apple bought final cut from Macromedia, it WAS a PC application!
 
Noiz2 said:
I don't think Apple has taken that big a chunk out of Avid's sales for a couple of reasons.
First FCP Only runs on a Mac. I love Mac's but most of the corporate world out there is on PC's. Avid as you say is big on networking, something very important to broadcasters, FCP doesn't do that, yet. Films with any kind of budget are cut 99% on Avid not FCP. THe place where FCP has really gotten market share is in LOW budget films and even videographer. The low budget edge has dulled of late because there is very good competition in that range. At the bottom you have a slew of consumer/ semi presumer NLE's like Premiere Pro and Vegas and at the upper end you have Avid with it's entry level products (and excellent upgrades BTW). For event videographer I suspect that FCS has a BIG chunk, because they hand you the whole package. Nobody else is handing you a package as powerful as FCS. I can see pros buying FCS just to get Color, that was an $18,000 app when Apple bought it. Most of this market was probably on Media 100 systems, at least that's the change I saw. I don't know of many Avid editors "switching".
Apple has problems in the high end market, film and broadcast.
Media management is probably #1
Networking (sort of connected to #1) would be #2
And playing well with others would be #3

Right now FCS media management sucks. Networking (as in cooperatively working on a project) is virtually nonexistent, you can distribute renders and compression, you can send to other apps in the suite but it's only real smooth if all the apps are on the same system. And you have to jump through hoops to work with apps out side the FCS. Last version they started using a new "file type" CAF files that nobody else can read.... You get the feeling that IF they ever sit down and discuss how new features will affect compatibility with third parties that the less compatible choice is the "right" one.

The only reason I could see for Avid to buy FCS would be to shelve it, well FCP anyway. They could re-brand the rest of FCS I guess. Hard to see how it makes sense.
Click to expand...

I'm sorry, but if yout hink Apples main target market is wedding videographers then you are delusional.
 
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