Final Cut Pro Trademark Update Suggests Apple Eyeing Future Subscription Model

[macos9rules]

I'm fine with subscription for media services... music streaming, movies, video tutorials, iCloud storage, Apple Fitness+. However, I would NEVER ever subscribe to an app or a plugin suite.

If Apple decide to go with a Final Cut Pro subscription model, I will need to switch to another app for my video editing. And if they decide to do the same with Logic Pro, I will switch all my work to Ableton Live, and would consider going to a Windows PC.

Looking at the other comments, it looks like I'm not alone.

 

[Macropanda]

If they change to subscription for new customers then fine, but people that dropped £300 expecting future updates should still get them.

 

[macos9rules]

uh no thanks. And please don't do this with logic pro. I would have to switch to a different DAW. I absolutely despise subscriptions.

Don't give them ideas... Logic is the main reason I'm still on Mac. It would be so sad if they go that way.

 

[raindogg]

Apple is doing everything possible to stop people from using Final Cut Pro

 

[dmylrea]

Both have an option to pay (somewhat more) monthly, with the ability to cancel at any time (you still have to pay for the month you're in, of course).

View attachment 1734555

Well, I stand corrected on Adobe. In the past, I don't recall seeing Monthly Plans, just annual. And that "somewhat more" seems to be about 50% more. Ouch.

Thanks.

 

[Michael Scrip]

Apple is doing everything possible to stop people from using Final Cut Pro

At least Apple is still developing Final Cut Pro and Logic Pro. Clearly they still care about video and audio.

But they dropped Aperture like a bad habit!

 

[jgdeschamps]

uh no thanks. And please don't do this with logic pro. I would have to switch to a different DAW. I absolutely despise subscriptions.

I don't know... I was also not attracted to this model. But Presonus came out with Sphere, and for the yearly or monthly price, it's actually quite good. It's the equivalent to paying for complete Studio One Pro yearly upgrades, but also includes all Presonus additional content and plugins, plus Notion. Wouldn't mind seeing what a possible Apple Pro Apps service asks for a monthly fee. They probably would still offer each app as a separate purchase for a while.

 

[User 6502]

Subscriptions are a cancer. I’d rather use an inferior product rather than bleed out money each month/year and still don’t own anything.

 

[kazmac]

This is disappointing, but will be hardly surprising if Apple goes this route. I was considering learning Final Cut Pro, but with this potential shift, probably not.

 

[dmylrea]

One subscription that definitely is a better value than purchase is (IMHO) Microsoft 365. The "Family" plan offers 5-6 users (not exactly sure which) the entire Office Suite plus 1TB OneDrive cloud storage for $100/year. That's roughly $20/person per year. To go buy Office 2019, you're looking at around $200 minimum and doesn't include OneDrive. So 10 years of M365 per person before you reach the cost of one purchase for one person. Plus you get new versions. Seems like a no-brainer to me.

The Personal version can be had for $50/year + 1TB OneDrive, which is still pretty good considering it comes with new versions.

Other subscriptions, like Acrobat, are a plain rip-off. $15/mo for one app that allows you to manipulate PDF's?

 

[ProVideo]

Does Final Cut have enough market share to do this? Unless the annual cost for FCP is the same as a month for Creative Cloud, many who use FCP will likely drop it for Adobe's suite if they have to have a subscription because it comes with After Effects, Photoshop, and Illustrator, which are basically required software for most editors.

After FCP 7 and Shake, most places switched to Adobe, Avid, Blackmagic, and Blender and won't return to Apple because they don't want to invest in software that Apple could decide to kill off and/or replace with an inferior product again. If Apple was serious about post-production, they would have bought out Affinity and included their software in a suite like Adobe. But even then I would worry they would just buy the software and strip most of the professional features for a new dumbed down version.

 

[JeffPerrin]

I need another monthly payment like I need another hole in my head.

 

[nathansz]

this makes me fear for logic pro

 

[Razorpit]

Aside that, I am wondering why software subscription article placed under political news

One side effect of this, if Apple doesn‘t like the politics on the things you are producing they have the ability to pull your “subscription”. Willing to bet suddenly a whole bunch of people are on board with subscriptions now...

 

[Razorpit]

And the landslide of predictable comments begins...

I knew you were going to say that...

 

[JeffPerrin]

Apple at the end of the day Apple is a big ol business. As part of their responsibility to shareholders they must look for new areas of growth. I am sure the company is watching as other companies are raking in billions after moving to subscription models: Adobe, Microsoft, AutoDesk.

The difference is Apple has traditionally offered quality, affordable software as an incentive to being in the Apple ecosystem. ie. The software helps drive the hardware sales. It's what Apple customers know and expect. Those other companies you mention live or die from software sales alone.

 

[m2m2k]

Already moved to DaVinci Resolve - free tier. Not missing FCP.

 

[darcyf]

Everyone complaining here keep in mind you used to have to buy upgrades every year to keep up, was basically a janky subscription model with the illusion of choice — yes you could just keep your version as is but then also get left behind. Apple switched to buy once, update free for life, which was awesome. But I’ve been getting free updates of FCPX for seven years now. That model seems unsustainable to me. Hopefully Apple strikes the right balance if they go the subscription route, making it easy to pay when you need it and not when you don’t and all for a fair price.

 

[chucker23n1]

If this provokes faster updates and more features then I'm all for it. I think a £300 value has been great for the last however many years.. but I am not bothered about paying for something that is a critical business tool that would give me more features/stability ultimately leading to more profitability.

This. If this leads to more sustained development, I think it's a no-brainer for a pro.

 

[nevhoffman]

Apple has amended its trademark for Final Cut Pro, its professional high-end video editing software, in a way that suggests it could be planning to turn the now one-time payment model for the software into a subscription.

As reported by Patently Apple, on Monday, Apple added a Nice Classification #42 listing to its Final Cut Pro trademark in Europe. The Class 42 identification is listed as including software as a service (SaaS), or a platform as a service (PaaS). For context, Microsoft Office 365, which is based on a monthly or yearly subscription, includes the same Class 42 listing for its suite of software.

Final Cut Pro is currently sold for $300 and is used widely by professional videographers, YouTubers, and content makers. Potentially changing the price and payment model into a monthly, or yearly subscription could entice even more customers to use the software. If Apple is planning the subscription route, it'll likely include more than simply the software itself.

With a subscription, Apple theoretically could offer subscribers access to original content, such as in-depth tutorials, walkthroughs, or exclusive videos/sessions with prominent video makers who use Final Cut Pro as part of their workflow.

Whether Apple takes the route is unknown, however, the pure nature of the updated trademark is rather telling. Apple over the years has launched a number of new services, the most recent being Apple Fitness+. The momentum is not slowing down, however. Apple is reportedly eyeing to launch a new podcast subscription service that would offer listeners exclusive and original content.

Article Link: Final Cut Pro Trademark Update Suggests Apple Eyeing Future Subscription Model

Y’all do realize that if they do this I’m sure if you already paid the $300 you’ll be grandfathered in. Cuz the subscription model will pry be like $5/month or $60/year.

 

[jayducharme]

It’s already a subscription.

Go FCP, buy new Macs forever.

Exactly. And with the transition to M1 Macs, even more so. I love FCPX, but if Apple goes to a subscription-only model, I'll drop it. I wouldn't be surprised if MacOS eventually goes that route, so you'd pay a premium to buy a Mac and then be locked into a subscription to update the software. That would be enough to push me to Linux.

 

[panjandrum]

I'm sure that in the short run companies make more money this way, but I think it's still debatable if they will make more money in the long run as they slowly drive people away from their products towards alternatives. I support Macs in education, soho, and home environments and were I to pull a number out of my arse I would say that a minimum of 50% of my clients who used to be MS Office and Adobe customers have already switched, after getting sick of the subscription fees. Usually to iWork, Libre Office, Pixelmator and other similar alternatives whenever possible. Admittedly, part of this may be because they are mostly in the creative end of things, even in education it's Montessori or other alternative programs. So it's people who, in general, actually 'think different' and don't have the corporate mindset of go along to get along. But even Microsoft bowed to this reality recently as they have just announced that you will be able to outright purchase again if you wish (or did I imagine that?) There are also plenty of issues with subscription model services in education in particular, because of the way annual budgets & special funding programs work. And while I don't specifically know all the ins and outs of why that's problematic, I do know that business managers in Education *strongly* prefer to control exactly when money is spent from funding pools, driving at least those schools I'm familiar with away from any software which is subscription based. I've repeatedly seen companies lose moderately-large sales because they did not outright sell their software. I've had to encourage movement on this on occasion for software that's absolutely mission-critical (Parallels), but otherwise I'm perfectly happy to accommodate whenever people want to move away from subscription software as there are usually excellent alternatives.

 

[Minxy]

After paying for the full product (with student discount) I don't want to lose access or have this version sunsetted with a lack of updates.

 

[doc james]

Today brings me one step closer to building a PC running Ubuntu and Resolve... Funded by all the subscriptions I've refused to pay.

 

[citysnaps]

This. If this leads to more sustained development, I think it's a no-brainer for a pro.

Could be a no-brainer for a casual user as well, depending on monthly fee and ability to start and stop a subscription, level of increased FCP development, etc.

As an aside, I suspect many casual users would do fine with iMovie, which is a pretty decent subset of FCP, and well-supported.