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Apple Pulls out of NAB 2008

InLikeALion said:
As I've moved to doing mostly print/web design there really isn't something that NAB would offer me. However, it saddens me when Apple show's signs of slowing innovation for their pro markets. Like how they stagnated the Mac Pros last year, and how a lot of their pro software has seen few incramental updates and fixes to problems.
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I agree.
This is more news that indicates there is a big shift towards becoming just a consumer electronics company.
The lack of new pro software, and other notable hardware items like displays is very worrying indeed.
I guess when they dropped Computer from their name it really meant something.
The idea that booth space is expensive is just too ludicrous for words.
Sad :(
 
jazman said:
Well we must have been at two different shows because Apple was one of the hottest spots at NAB for the last two years. In fact the reason that they moved them to they middle of the South Hall last year is because they wanted more traffic to flow through the Hall. Before people would always come in and stop at the LARGE Apple booth and bottleneck the traffic. They also got a lot of press in the daily NAB paper. So to say they won't be missed makes you sound like an NAB newb.
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Yeah you are absolutely right jazman....I was gonna say something about that too, but decided not to. I'm not sure what show funkyjunk was at either, but Apple's presence last year was huge and they will definitely be missed. I think Apple is making a big mistake by not being there...I can understand perhaps not having such a big booth because of lack of new products, but to pull out altogether is bad strategy. The fact that AVID pulled out should have given them even more of a reason to stay there and steal more business from them.
 
Cromulent said:
Your correction was pointless, especially seeing as the original was a perfectly good use of the English language.
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Reminds me of the time I finally got mad after seeing someone use the word "whinging" a few too many times and I fired off a snappy response: "It's spelled WHINING, you _____".

Oh boy, did I ever get it.

As for Apple, I can see why they wouldn't need to be at NAB, but sometimes it's about maintaining mind-share rather than necessarily showing off the latest and greatest. If there will be all sorts of other companies representing hardware, software, lighting, editing, cameras, etc. then why shouldn't Apple be part of that mix? They might not have anything revolutionary to show off but their continued presence establishes in people's minds that Apple is as much a brand associated with broadcasting as Sony or Panasonic.
 
JDC55 said:
This man speaks the truth. Along with the money who wants to deal with the trade show unions. Why do I have to hire union labor at $65+ an hour to screw in a light bulb?
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Fair enough...I've had to deal with those rip off merchants myself.
Very annoying and costly.
But if you want to play in the sandbox you gotta get in it whatever.
If other co's can do it surely Apple can too?
That's if they want to reach out to us pros any more.
 
Totally agree

jaw04005 said:
Aperture doesn't belong at NAB. You should see something about Aperture at Photokina.

This news is disappointing to those waiting for Blu-ray support. Apparently, no Final Cut Studio 2.5 announcement this year.

The question for Apple is what the hell is going on with DVD Studio? Where's DVD Studio Pro 4.5 or 5? Blu-ray authoring support? I suppose Final Cut Server is vaporware?
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I guess even worse is that 'Phenomenon' seems to be vaporware.

I personally am in no way affiliated to the broadcasting industry, but I think Shake is getting quite old, isn't it?
 
How about this explanation

Say Apple does update the ACD's but they'll be ready prior to NAB. If I'm Apple in this quarter, I want new products out there as soon as possible to maximize sales - that means if the timing for NAB isn't great - I'll skip it, and release whatever those products are - new MBPs or new ACDs prior to that date.

To me, this means we'll see new MBPs and ACDs prior to NAB.
 
this is deeper than just the lack of a product launch at NAB, I think this is the first sign of Apple starting to move away from regular updates to Pro Products.

Apple are much more focused on consumer level products - iPod/iPhone/iTunes store (movies)/iMacs/:apple:TV the list goes on - at the moment. I think it is getting to the stage where there isn't much you can't do in final cut, there isn't much you can't do in Logic (i'm told) - Why do we need MAJOR updates to software all the time?

Hardware is another thing, but updates to the MBP are hardly overdue and the MP is all new and shiny.

There are updates due - Aperture 2.0, but we know that is probably coming, and Final Cut server is sort of there for those that need it (major studios that use FC will have been approached by apple)

Blu-Ray/HD-DVD is perhaps the future, but Apple really sees the future in Downloads.
 
louden said:
Say Apple does update the ACD's but they'll be ready prior to NAB. If I'm Apple in this quarter, I want new products out there as soon as possible to maximize sales - that means if the timing for NAB isn't great - I'll skip it, and release whatever those products are - new MBPs or new ACDs prior to that date.

To me, this means we'll see new MBPs and ACDs prior to NAB.
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But that still doesn't make sense. Apple would still want to be there to show off these new pro pieces, and make the sales pitch to the broadcasters as to why they should use Apple solutions over competitors. A lot of times at things like this companies could care less whether or not something is actually revealed with fanfare at the show. They just need solid solutions that work, even if it's been out for a few months.
 
One of the major reasons why Apple won't be at NAB is the problems they've been having with Final Cut Server.

We've been looking for a new asset management system for our company for some time now, and have been doing a bit of research into FCS, and all the feedback we've gotten back is that Apple simply haven't got the product working very well. Now, this is surprising seeing as they bought the platform (Artbox) from Proximity in 2006. Methinks that the allocation of Apple software engineers from one area to another last year (from OS X to iPhone and back again) has had a knock on effect on their other areas as well, most notably on unreleased products such as this.

I spoke to several different vendors at Broadcast Live in London last week, and they all said the same thing. FCS was very appealing to us, but we're now looking at CatDV, that does pretty much everything FCS does, but is available now.

So for Apple to turn up to NAB with no products would just be a waste of time and resources. All those moaning about 'no MBPs' have to remember that the most important Apple product to the broadcast industry is their Final Cut software family.
 
thworple said:
Now, this is surprising seeing as they bought the platform (Artbox) from Proximity in 2006. Methinks that the allocation of Apple software engineers from one area to another last year (from OS X to iPhone and back again) has had a knock on effect on their other areas as well, most notably on unreleased products such as this.
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I can sympathize and agree with what you said except for this. OS engineers and application engineers don't cross. If Apple truly is deciding to not follow through with our pro apps, it's a conscious decision re-allocate funds/resources, but not because they took a FCS coder and asked him to go work on coding the Leopard dock.
 
Good for Apple, this stops analysts and rumour hogs pinning all their hopes and expectations on seeing new things at such events.
 
Apple is a hardware company. macs, ipods, iphones, etc.... They sell software applications in order to sell more hardware, not because of their love of video.

The actual industry rumor was that Adobe was trying to buy the Apple Pro Video division.... not the other way around.

Neither Avid nor Apple will be at NAB because NAB was trying to extort both companies with huge increases and an unbelievably outrageous sum of money to display. Not enough bang for the amount of buck being charged and a bad business decision to proceed at those prices.
 
updates aren't always good news you know - if it ain't broke don't fix it

*cough* iMac *cough*
 
InLikeALion said:
I can sympathize and agree with what you said except for this. OS engineers and application engineers don't cross. If Apple truly is deciding to not follow through with our pro apps, it's a conscious decision re-allocate funds/resources, but not because they took a FCS coder and asked him to go work on coding the Leopard dock.
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Perhaps you're right. Thinking about it they would probably have taken some of Proximity's engineers with them to work on this product anyway.

It seems a shame they haven't got as far as they stated they would with this though. It would have been the perfect time to release it at NAB '08, as Apple have taken to releasing Final Cut Pro/Studio updates bi-annually in recent years. With this being a year between releases, it would have been a perfect time to bring out this new product.
 
wyldelee said:
The actual industry rumor was that Adobe was trying to buy the Apple Pro Video division.... not the other way around.
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I haven't heard this rumor anywhere. It certainly wasn't on anyone's lips at Broadcast Live (which I admit isn't the largest of industry shows). Can you link to any evidence of this?
 
wyldelee said:
The actual industry rumor was that Adobe was trying to buy the Apple Pro Video division.
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Adobe really needs fcp. Premiere is buggy as hell and there's a lot of things really wrong. Although, I've been batch capturing 1080i50 hdv with fcp6 whole week and it just keeps crashing... Why focus European hd formats, they are still not so widely used...
Shake developers came from Sony and fcp from Macromedia, if I remember correctly. So fcp would just come back home...
 
I don't think this is really an indication either way about possible FCS (and related products) updates.

People speculated to death about when Logic 8 would ship based on apple's attendance at music/audio events. There were major events right around the time they shipped it, first major update to that app in 3 years or so...and apple's presence at those events was minimal or nothing.

I think apple just doesn't think most of these events are worth doing any more. If apple announces a new pro level product, people will know about it whether they demo it at a show or not. Does anyone think apple really sells that many more copies of FCS 2.5 or 3 or whatever just because they show up at a trade show?
 
oldwatery said:
I agree.
This is more news that indicates there is a big shift towards becoming just a consumer electronics company.
The lack of new pro software, and other notable hardware items like displays is very worrying indeed.
I guess when they dropped Computer from their name it really meant something.
The idea that booth space is expensive is just too ludicrous for words.
Sad :(
Click to expand...

This is what I am afraid of. I hope it's not what's really happening. Though in some ways it does feel like Apple is shifting away from the Pro market. This Quote makes it sound like exactly that ("customers" apparently being the average consumer):

"Apple is participating in fewer trade shows this year," said Anuj Nayar, senior manager of PR at Apple. "Often there are better ways to reach our customers. The increasing popularity of our retail stores and Apple.com Web site allows us to directly reach more than 100 million customers around the world in innovative new ways."

wyldelee said:
Apple is a hardware company. macs, ipods, iphones, etc.... They sell software applications in order to sell more hardware, not because of their love of video.

The actual industry rumor was that Adobe was trying to buy the Apple Pro Video division.... not the other way around.

Neither Avid nor Apple will be at NAB because NAB was trying to extort both companies with huge increases and an unbelievably outrageous sum of money to display. Not enough bang for the amount of buck being charged and a bad business decision to proceed at those prices.
Click to expand...

What are your resources for this information, the point you make about extortion? Can you provide a link or something?
 
thworple said:
Thinking about it they would probably have taken some of Proximity's engineers with them to work on this product anyway.
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I like the Proximity guys but.... their development process has been horrifically slow. They interface to some of our stuff and the time between them getting a contract and contacting me about how to interface is measured in years.
 
If Apple were primarily a software company then Apple s/w products would not be Apple h/w specific. They would want to sell as much s/w as possible on any viable platform, we all know this is not the case.

Mind you, I am not saying that they are not innovative company, I am saying they are a hardware company first, and one that is primarily consumer not professionally oriented.

Apple would have little reason or need to buy Adobe...it certainly would not be for Premiere.
 
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