Where Did Apple Go Wrong?
Back in June, in the Letter From the Editor column, I wrote “Final Cut X: Commercial Success or Critical Failure?” As it turns out, I couldn’t have picked my words any more correctly for two reasons: not only does the software not act like the “Pro” software that it has been built up to, but by all accounts this version of Final Cut seems like a commercial failure.
FCP X: Change is here
Unless you’ve been hiding under a rock for the last few weeks, you have heard about the release of Apple’s highly touted Final Cut Pro X (which isn’t actually the tenth version of the software, but a complete rewrite that they felt needed to be stamped with the now familiar “X” brand). You, undoubtedly, also heard it doesn’t quite live up to the “Pro” in its name. Gone are the OMF and XML export options, multicam, no reconnect to offline media option, no organization of project files, no more Final Cut Studio. Now, everything’s been rolled into Final Cut except Motion (for animation) and Compressor (for encoding files). Oh, and you can’t even open FCP 7 files.
All of these drastic changes have caused a ton of fallout from amateur and professional editors alike. Everybody from David Pogue (Pogue’s Posts @ The New York Times), Richard Harrington, Larry Jordan, Alex Lindsay, and Carey Dissmore are up-in-arms over the new release because of these major shortcomings. Walter Biscardi was so taken back that Apple would release such premature software that he very publicly denounced it and moved to Adobe Premiere Pro. Hell, even Conan got in on the fun.
Other software companies also took notice of Apple’s mistake. Adobe jumped all over the big letdown by offering huge savings for anyone who wanted to switch to their either the entire Production Premium or just the Premiere Pro editing software from Apple FCP X. Avid CEO Gary Greenfield was also quick to respond with a discount for Avid Media Composer and a letter proclaiming their commitment to professionals.
Apple has been reported to be issuing refunds to some customers who need the pieces that are missing from this version of their software, and they released a public announcement assuring all Final Cut users that fixes will be coming (some free, some paid) in the “near future”, but this hasn’t silenced the criticism any. In fact, many are demanding Apple to make immediate changes and pay for all those changes as well.
All of this has amounted to one of the worst product launches in Apple’s history. In fact, as of writing this, the average rating in the App Store is at 3 stars (which, to Apple’s credit, has gone up from the previous 2 1/2 stars I saw a couple of weeks back). It looks like the damage has been done.
The highest rating FCP X has gotten since released
Where I’m coming from
I am not a professional editor, but I was trained on Final Cut Pro in college, I own a copy at home (FCP 7), I have used it on many projects from simple family projects to more advanced client projects, and I loved it. However, about a year ago I stopped using it and moved over to Premiere Pro. Because of the lack of updates from Apple and their constant move to make everything more accessible to everyone, I feared they may have given up on professional software. I feel I couldn’t have made a better decision.
Even at a reduced price of $299, the software isn’t worth the money–it’s incomplete. I understand that Final Cut was in need of an overhaul, but to release a newer version of said software that is completely lacking features that an earlier version had and pull all copies of Final Cut 7 from the shelves is just absurd. Add to that the fact that they plan on releasing updates to fix these problems and have the users pay for some of them is just ridiculous. To make matters worse, nobody knows how long these updates will take to be released. Many can’t, and won’t, wait that long, and I don’t blame them.
The new FCP X
But is everybody out in the cold with this product release? What about the independent editor? What about the guy who doesn’t use the multicam tool and doesn’t care about organizing his project? Well, if you don’t plan on sharing your project with anybody and you can deal with the shortcomings of the software, then I suppose you can. If you are just a family man/woman who wants to edit family videos, then it’s great for you.
If, however, you plan on sharing you project with another editor you’ll have to either let him/her use your computer, hand over a huge project/event file with ALL the media files or send him/her just the project files and have the second editor reconnect all the media files. Do you plan on sending your audio/video files to other applications to edit, mix, color correct, do whatever you want with? Think again. You’ll have to download a $500 dollar third-party application in order to do so. It doesn’t support AAF, EDL, or exporting of XML either. Oh, and did I mention you can’t even open files created in Final Cut Pro 7? Yeah, there won’t be a fix for that either.
Wait! There has to be some positives about this software, right? Well, with a completely rewritten 64-bit architecture you’re going to get some cool features, but they’re not all they’re cracked up to be from what I see. The magnetic timeline will always allow your video and audio stay in sync, but it doesn’t take into account L cuts (when you want the video from one track to overlap the audio from the other, or vice versa). The compound clip idea for the timeline makes it difficult to quickly see quick changes to video you add because you can only see the main storyline. You can use audition, but from what I read, that isn’t any quicker than the old drag and drop method. In fact, a lot of what I read about FCP X is that it actually takes more clicks of the mouse to do a simple task. About the only positive that I see is the automatic rendering of a project, which is cool, but Premiere Pro has been doing that for a while so I’m not impressed. That really doesn’t leave you with much, but I guess it is cheaper.
The bottom line is if a tool doesn’t allow me to do my job properly or easier, then I’m not going to buy it. The same goes for my software, because they are just tools to get a job done. I already own Adobe Production Premium because I need After Effects, Photoshop and the other software they have, so it just makes sense that I’m going to learn Premiere to do my video editing. It has everything I need to get the job done and then some.
Where did apple go wrong?
If you look at Apple’s past, you will see a disturbing trend.
Apple has been making both their software and hardware more easily accessible to everyone. Sadly, that means dumbing it down to a basic level as with Final Cut Pro X. In doing so they will alienate a good portion of their market share, but they will also gain a bunch of new “lower end users” in the process. Does that all equal out? Who knows, but it’s the direction Apple has taken, either consciously or subconsciously.
After years of upgrades and several third party plug-ins Final Cut Pro X will be at the level it once was, and some of the professional editors and companies may come back. That is, if they even care about Final Cut when that happens.
John Kostrzewski is the Editor of Fuel Your Motionography and a freelance motion graphics and visual effects artist, videographer and writer living in Minnesota. He is awesome. Follow him on Twitter at and .
I’m not quite ready to scourge Apple just yet. They have given us great products like FCP7, Motion, Logic, the iPhone, iPad, and one of the best operating systems on the market.
As Henry Moore put it, “what’s important is finding out what works for you.”
The glory of America is our freedom of choice. If FCPX doesn’t work for you, it’s ok to stick with FCP7 (which still works), or switch to Adobe Premeire (uses a similar workflow/feel), Avid (also similar, very pricey, but film industry standard… for some reason), Grass Vally Edius (if you want to be a small fish), or Sony Vegas (my personal favorite).
Was FCPX a good move for Apple? It was daring to be sure, and time will tell. The early adopters are not happy, at least the professionals. Of the few I’ve talked to, iMovie users are thrilled and feel like they can step up their game. Maybe that was Apple’s idea, to bring more amateurs up to the professional level (there was a good post on getting terrirorial on FYC before you get all up in arms). It would help Apple sales and the creative community to encourage more people to “grow into” professionals.
Did Apple alienate its professional market? Not me. I’m still on board with Apple. I still love what they offer. I still purchase and use their products. Will I be an early adapted after this? Probably not, but I’m not really an early adapter now. I tend to wait for reviews, and often overthink, before I buy.
Perhaps that is the lesson of FCPX, we need not buy the newest, latest, “greatest” thing but we need to be more saavy investors and purchase products with some thought rather than jumping at it because the marking tells us to. (and now we know how our industry parallels our national economy.)
I believe in Apple products as much as the next guy. I even used to work in an Apple store selling and teaching their products because I loved them so much, but they screwed the pooch with this software.
Final Cut was behind all the other editing software on the market, and this was supposed to be their big release to get it back up to speed. What we got was a 64-bit product with a lot of potential, but lacked the features needed to make it the equivalent of any of the others on the market. It lacks the features to make it the equivalent of Final Cut Pro 7. As it is right now, this is the new iMovie, as many are calling it, not a new version of Final Cut. What they didn’t tell you was that it was going to need hundreds of dollars worth of plug-ins to make it close to what it used to be. And that’s not even going into the loss of Color, DVD Studio and Soundtrack Pro.
Will I be giving up on Apple altogether? No. I still own many of their products, but without Final Cut, the only Apple software I own is what’s been preloaded on my Mac. I don’t use MobileMe anymore, I can’t use the Apple mouse because it doesn’t have three buttons (needed for 3d programs), I can’t use their new bluetooth keyboard because it doesn’t have a numpad (needed for quick rendering in AE and other programs)… I keep finding other alternatives because Apple is slowly getting rid of all these things that I need, and I wonder when it will stop: when Apple figures out they are making a mistake or when I decided enough is enough.
Final Cut Pro X is good software if you are able to use it. For everyone else, apparently including me, change is definitely in our future. I can’t wait until they have made the software better than it used to be let alone the equivalent of what it used to be. I’ve already moved on to something better, and it’s Premiere Pro. Unfortunately, that’s not the case for everyone. Some people have to use it even though they need these lost features because their clients or their company has upgraded, and their hands are tied as to what they can do.
All said, a lot of people thought they had found what works for them. They thought they were getting the next big version of that thing. What they got was something less than what they were told it would be. It was deceptive advertisement on the part of Apple, and I believe they will lose a lot of good people because of it.
Apple to me has become like your x-girlfriend who dumped you for the quarterback, or your favorite band who went mainstream… they’re not the same company they used to be.
For some, that’s fine, but for others (like myself) I moved on. I don’t use Macs anymore for my work machines (or any machine, really). Until a few years ago, I never owned a Windows machine, but because of Apple’s new direction (slowly killing off and watering down their pro products) I now run Windows 7 machines and I don’t regret it one bit. Even the Mac Pro with as good as a processor it has now, they still lag way behind with what you can do with a Windows machine… multiple GPUs working in tandem, off-the-charts fast PCI SSDs (RevoDrives) and the fact my machine runs at 4.5GHz… in the end, I need the speed, horsepower and Apple is not catering to those users anymore… they’re more concerned with turning Mac OS X into iOS so new iPhone users feel comfortable and how many new iPads they can churn out every year.
Sad times for the users who helped put Apple in the position they’re in now… the users who were there with them when people forgot Apple was even still around… can’t help but feeling as though they turned their back on those people.
I moved to Apple to get away from Windows and I vowed never to look back, but I now feel myself being pushed back. If something doesn’t work, change it. It doesn’t help that the latest reviews of OSX Lion are so negative and Windows 8 seem more upbeat. Only time will tell how things turn out, but I may just have to make the switch. Again. Maybe I should go to Linux.
Yeah, for me… at the end of the day it’s about speed, speed, speed. I’ve learned to like the Windows Explorer much better than the Finder… I can’t live without cut and paste for file management, being able to move and delete files in open/save dialogs, etc. Once I unchained myself from the iApps and moved everything to Google’s services, it made the switch a lot easier.
Also, I must add that it was Windows 7 that made the switch even more bearable. Had they still been on Vista or XP, I couldn’t have done it.
Windows 8 is looking real solid.