Re: One year later...

[Andrew Kimery] "When/if it does how many of the high-end users are going to be the market to switch NLEs... again?"

This question assumes they'll switch to a competing product in the meantime. Truth is, most of the critical higher end features have already been added back to FCP X (or are available from third parties in its ecosystem), and no mass exodus seems to have occurred. When classic FCP users do look for something new, FCP X should be right there in the running.

[Andrew Kimery] "And why toss the baby out with the bathwater on the rebuild if that's a market you want to keep? If FCPX didn't ship with Import from iMovie or Share to CNN iReporter I don't think anyone would've raised a fuss over those missing features at launch."

I find that very unlikely. The only realistic way Apple could have changed the perception of who was being targeted with the first release would have been to hold the entire release until additional high-end features could be implemented. Even then, the pump was primed -- there were many people already buying into the "Apple is abandoning pros" narrative (ironically because an FCP replacement hadn't shipped yet). People were looking to fit anything Apple shipped into this narrative -- it would have been very hard to avoid.

[Andrew Kimery] "Obviously they couldn't go from nothing to king of the hill over night but that was the long term goal. To go toe to toe with Avid.

Maybe that still is the goal but they are going to do it by building a more profitable business as opposed to building a better product. ;)"

There are two ways to unseat a competitor -- build a better equivalent product, or build a product that redefines the market to make their product irrelevant. Apple is to some extent taking a hybrid approach with FCP X. They're supporting some standard industry formats and practices, but also trying to push the industry the way they think it should go.

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Digital Workflow/Colorist, Nice Dissolve.

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