Apple Denies Rumors of Selling Off Pro Apps

[MacRumors]

TVBEurope quotes Richard Townhill, Apple's director of marketing for professional video applications regarding some recent rumors that Apple might be trying to sell off its "Pro Apps" (Final Cut Pro and associated applications) to another company.

Townhill strongly denied the rumors and said "I can categorically state, on the record, that is not the case".

Whispers of rumors that Apple was shopping around its Pro Apps, such as Final Cut Pro, had circulated over the past few months. The speculation may have been further fueled by Apple's decision to not exhibit at NAB this year. This uncharacteristic comment by Apple, however, should put these rumors to rest.


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[supremedesigner]

Buried as inaccurate. Too rumor-ish. heh

 

[Sky Blue]

It would make no sense to sell them off.

 

[esquared]

definitely page 2 rumor, enough already.

 

[Grimace]

Software titles have much higher margins than hardware.

Not gonna happen!

 

[Brianstorm91]

Maybe not their apps, but that's not where their main interests lie either nowadays.

 

[fluidedge]

ffs the pro apps are too woven into the fabric of apple to be sold off.

They rely so heavily on QT - if they sell the pro apps they don't have control over the quicktime/app balance and integration.

The apps also feed down to other apps. Final Cut and iMovie share a lot of features and code, so if they sell the apps where does that leave the consumer apps?

Pro apps are never going to be sold off. Apple has $alot billion in the bank, why do they need to raise a few million more?

It is a bit disappointing that the apps do seem to have slowed down in development and new features though.

 

[avigalante]

Software titles have much higher margins than hardware.

Not gonna happen!

+1

Software has such high margins that it's unfathomable.

 

[kwong2006]

definitely page 2 rumor, enough already.

A Page 2 classification would be glorifying this piece of trash. Page 10 should do it

 

[bdkennedy1]

There have been many times Apple has completely denied one thing, only to do the complete opposite later.

If it happens, I'm sure they will let us know about it.

 

[Marzzz]

There has been rampant concern about this on the Logic Users' Group mailing list- hopefully this will settle all that....

 

[JonasLondon]

Phenomenal Phenomenon in 2009. Nuff said.

As stated previously, the fact that Apple is not doing NAB 2008 may very well be a sound business decision. After all, everybody knows about and loves FCS2 and Shake etc., and Shake will have been transformed/merged into something major come 2009. "Phenomenon" has been hinted at from Apple, and be sure it will come in 2009.

 

[superleccy]

Well, good news. I'd be heartbroken if Apple got rid of Logic.

Although... it would be nice if they fixed just a few of the outstanding bugs.

SL

 

[CalfCanuck]

+1

Software has such high margins that it's unfathomable.

While this is generally true, for Apple they can run their Pro Apps division at break even and still have it contribute to the bottom line, much like the free consumer apps.

Just like the iTunes store, the pro apps drive sales of high end desktops and laptops - for every $400 upgrade of the App, the user buys a new $5000 computer.

 

[Hls811]

There have been many times Apple has completely denied one thing, only to do the complete opposite later.

If it happens, I'm sure they will let us know about it.

As opposed to them doing it and not telling anyone?

 

[dongmin]

Don't forget that a lot of "iApp" technologies make their debut in the pro apps. The Pro Apps keep Apple on the cutting edge.

 

[Clive At Five]

Nothing has changed here... Apple is still using software to sell hardware.

For professionals, there are only a few options... and Apple's integrated model is one of the more powerful and diverse ones.

Selling off pro apps opens the suite to possible dual-platform migration and thenceforth, dillution of the suites operability and performance on Macs.

-Clive

 

[blur35mm]

Where is FS3?

Anyone have any idea when Final Cut Studio 3 is coming out? Are they going to squeeze Shake into the box this time?

 

[gifford]

Apple would never sell off those apps, it's all part of their long term strategy.

 

[MacFly123]

Anyone have any idea when Final Cut Studio 3 is coming out? Are they going to squeeze Shake into the box this time?

And how about a new GUI for that and Color so they actually match the rest of the Studio apps instead of being hideous and confusing.

Good to hear this though. If Apple ever sold the Pro Apps words could not describe how furious I would be and how badly it would hurt their creative user base!

 

[ATG]

Anyone have any idea when Final Cut Studio 3 is coming out? Are they going to squeeze Shake into the box this time?

I thought shake was being phased out.

 

[soulbot]

Anyone have any idea when Final Cut Studio 3 is coming out? Are they going to squeeze Shake into the box this time?

My guess is: no time soon. If they had something even remotely close to being ready, I'd think they would have said so at NAB. They didn't need to physically be there to make the announcement. And they wouldn't need to be shipping it immediately to make an announcement. I think all was quiet because there's still some time to go before they're going to have a substantial update.

Too, can you properly update the entire suite if only a few of the apps included are going to get upgrades? I think the time-between-updates is going to get a little longer than it was before, because of the breadth of the suite now.

...of course, this is all speculation - on my behalf. Who knows?

 

[wideholic]

you know..sometimes rumors that just doesn't make sense attracts alot of people..

 

[bbarnhart]

Cringely is part of the rumor frenzy.

 

[amac4me]

Nice to see the denials from Apple.