Re: Avid says No to NAB 2008

Ron

I don't doubt that the market has changed, but I'm not sure that just because it makes little sense for YOU to be at NAB (you're an online business) that it makes little sense for AVID. As expensive as shows like NAB and IBC are, they also signal intent on behalf of the company to be in a market, to allow direct comparison of their products to others, and to build personal relationships with buyers and new customers - particularly the new consumers that will become their userbase in years to come. For hire companies and post-production houses, the shows present a unique opportunity to do business with multiple companies over a short time period - often this is a money saver, not a drain on time or resources - and I speak from personal experience here. I know many companies who do a great deal of business at NAB, millions of dollars every year.

I suspect that some of AVID's reasons may be more prosaic. As I long time FCP user, I knew I had made the right choice in technology when I visited NAB a few years ago and arrived at the steps down to the post hall. On my right was a huge Apple stand PACKED with people, many of them younger professionals taking a look at the latest builds of FCP etc. To the left of that aisle was AVID, in a large but almost entirely empty stand. The staff manning it had a slighty bemused look every time I passed.

There may well have been a paradigm shift - in editing - and I think AVID may have been on the receiving end....

Ben