Hands-On With Final Cut Pro for iPad

[headlessmike]

I keep hearing from developers that subscriptions are the way to sustain further development. Except that back in the 90s and 00s, developers had no issue making money. It’s that they want to make much more money now. That’s their right — but it’s also our right to boycott.

But back in the day we used to have to pay for every upgrade. New OS? Buy the new version of our software that'll work on it, often at full price. The thing that really hurt developers was the expectation that a ¢99 app would get years worth of upgrades at no additional cost.

 

[TheYayAreaLiving 🎗️]

What are the chances of having a Final Cut Pro for Apple Watch?

 

[sherwinzadeh]

The problem with subscription pricing is that it removes the incentive for the developer to improve the product. Back in the day when companies hard to earn their sales through separate releases, they actually had to offer something new and compelling to get the user to pay again.

Now, because subscriptions are often the only option, they have their audiences captive and the users have no choice but to pay indefinitely, even if the software stagnates or declines, and even if massive new bugs and unwelcome UI/UX changes make the software unusable.

I keep hearing from developers that subscriptions are the way to sustain further development. Except that back in the 90s and 00s, developers had no issue making money. It’s that they want to make much more money now. That’s their right — but it’s also our right to boycott.

Remember "back in the day" developers would charge money for updates. Apple's really started the trend towards free updates. Remember when iOS (back then called iPhone OS) cost $19.99 to upgrade on the iPod touch? macOS (back then called OS X) upgrades weren't free either. The App Store has no way for a developer to charge money for an upgrade. You could make a "feature pack" and sell that as a one-off in-app purchase. All companies that tried doing that, (e.g. Pencil on the iPad, and more recently Sketch on the Mac) didn't really succeed in the long run because development costs are more than just adding some new features. So, speaking as a developer, I don't like subscriptions and I try not doing them in my own apps, but yes it does seem like it is the only sustainable way to support an app given the App Store rules.

 

[Jupeman]

Reminds me of this icon. Imagine Aperture on M2 iPad Pro. This world needs it.

Aperture, one of the best pieces of software Apple ever made, IMO. I loved it so much and have found nothing that replaces it completely for me on several levels.

 

[Ghost31]

What are the chances of having a Final Cut Pro for Apple Watch?

Michael bay would have a field day with that

 

[symphony]

Aren't there a ton of apps on the App Store that do that? Probably way cheaper than FCP, too.

consistency

 

[dumastudetto]

I firmly believe that both of these pro apps will be further developed and become replacements for the desktop versions. It’s very early days, but the time will come when they are ready as Mac app replacements. Which will bring a universal binary for developing. We’ve see this already with multiple smaller apps that have been ported from iOS to Mac (clock, weather etc) so it’s not out of the question that they’d do this for large apps until everything is cross compatible.

I use Logic and it’s a very old app with quite possibly a ton of legacy code hiding away. These new apps should allow Apple to ground up develop a replacement and clear the deck at the same time which is a positive for making an app that’s easier to enhance with brand new modern ideas. But a big negative is it forces a sub payment method, and potentially all plugins to be sold via App Store (which of course means more royalties for apple) and more development for plugin companies to be AUv3 and touch compatible. I really hope Apple considers more ways to pay other that subs.

These releases are already so impressive. It's never been clearer to me - the future of Mac is iPad Pro.

 

[Ctrlos]

Macrumors, it works on an A12 iPad as well. Check the App Store requirements! I've been playing with it this afternoon on an A12Z.

Annoyances include the lack of external drive support making exporting difficult on a 128gb model and the inability to import any audio files from Apple Music, even if they are your own MP3s. iMovie has this ability!

 

[TheYayAreaLiving 🎗️]

First impression video from ZolloTech is out.

 

[moonwalk]

No subscription for me. Ditch the subscription and offer the option to buy the app for those of us who think different and actually prefer to own something and refuse to be nickel and dimed every month by large corporations.

 

[Rogifan]

Cool but I would really like a one time purchase

And updates without having to pay for them? Or a charge every time a new version comes out?

 

[madrigal77]

Should be included in Apple One.

 

[subjonas]

Subscription pricing is necessary because Apple upgrades iOS every bloody year and, likely, makes big enough changes to continually break code. Just keeping up with Apple is a full time job.

Still doesn’t have to be subscription. Developers could just charge for updates. Some people stay on older OSes, so a perpetual license lets them keep their older app.

 

[subjonas]

If I could frame the most perfect comment to describe this situation, it’s probably this one. Especially this part

“Developers appreciate subscriptions so much because it gives them a direct sense of engagement. A recurring fee for use encourages you, as a user, to be more present and urgent in your feedback. That puts pressure on the developer to maintain that feedback loop through more frequent updates and incorporating user requests more directly.”

As someone that uses Luma fusion, holy crap dude. The lack of meaningful updates we should have gotten years ago is insane. People praise the fact you can buy it all at once and never pay again, but the feeling you get when you see their tweets, their responses on the App Store and their YouTube videos is that they don’t have the funding to staff enough people to really work on the things we need. They have a small group of people working on it because that’s all then can afford and they can only work on so much. If I could have paid monthly and gotten multicam years ago, I would have. If I could have paid monthly and gotten motion tracking, I would have!

I get fatigue at subscribing to things too, but sometimes it’s just worth it and I end up getting more for my money

I believe companies need to charge higher prices for one-time purchase apps. It will be a rude awakening for iOS/iPadOS users, but these current ridiculously low prices (compared to desktop apps) just can’t be sustainable, as your anecdote exemplifies. That’s probably a major reason if not the major reason for the movement toward subscription pricing. By being unwilling to pay a reasonable price for a perpetual licenses (that will allow companies to operate), consumers are unwittingly the ones causing the spread of the very thing they hate (subscriptions).

 

[jayducharme]

The FCP app looks like the iMovie app to me (except that the timeline can show clip frames). And the Logic Pro app looks like Garage Band. Both iMovie and Garage Band are remarkably capable for being free apps. And both can export to their respective "big brother" apps. I'll be interested in eventually hearing how "pro" users react to the new apps after they've worked with them for a while. I'm wondering what exactly the use case scenario is.

 

[needsomecoffee]

"...I did use my keyboard with it, and the keyboard shortcuts we all know and love are there." So perhaps is it better when your iPad is configured as a MacBook by adding a KB, yet Apple refuses to add touchscreens to MBs or pencil capabilities to MBs. Of course why provide a full solution when Tim can sell two devices. Finally, re: Flaming me re: finger-prints on the MB screen... If Apple added a touchscreen to the MB and you hate finger-prints on your screen, just don't touch the screen, or buy a iPad & Keyboard and rationlize why fingerprints are OK in this setup, and then buy a bigger back pack to transport your two devices.

 

[sherwinzadeh]

I wonder if FCP and Logic would finally cause the rumored 15" iPad to finally launch.

 

[tripleburst]

Lack of external storage editing is a dealbreaker. If you’re not into subscriptions, there’s DaVinci Resolve Although I’m waiting for that to mature, and get the other editing tabs.

 

[StoneJack]

no one forces you to use FCP.
Good luck with other apps
Wonder if they are subscription too

 

[moonwalk]

Lack of external storage editing is a dealbreaker. If you’re not into subscriptions, there’s DaVinci Resolve Although I’m waiting for that to mature, and get the other editing tabs.

LumaFusion's a great solution on the iPad.

 

[Cobra Kai]

Anybody else wonder if there would be a market for a reborn subscription version of Aperture?

The engineers that made Aperture made their own app years ago (Raw Power). Basically Aperture 2.0. Also, there are so many good other alternatives as well now subscription free.

 

[Ghost31]

Still doesn’t have to be subscription. Developers could just charge for updates. Some people stay on older OSes, so a perpetual license lets them keep their older app.

Oh god i dont wanna be here if they ever tried doing that. The moaning we would hear. “They’re charging for updates? Thats bs! Money hungry! Grrr!”

People are going to complain no matter what. Even if it’s literally only $5 a month to pay for the development of an app people use every single day. I remember the price of apps on ipad was an issue when gaming companies wanted to port games over. They did tons of market research and a lot of them just…didnt bother because nobody was willing to pay more than $10 for a game. Same for other types of apps and utilities. We could have gotten much more pro apps sooner if people were willing to pay, but most times they just arent. Consumers are used to the “freemium” model of downloading for free and paying for certain additional features but even then theyre just willing to shell out a few bucks.

I remember being blown away at the costs to develop some of these apps. Just blew my mind. There was a story on here about one start up that spent a few hundred thousand getting their app off the ground and despite it being an amazing app, nobody wanted to pay. The company ended up pivoting away from that to something else and the app died.

People are really entitled. And ya know what? I’m not even surprised. The people on this very site who literally just say apple should include Final Cut for free “because theyre worth so much money already” are the same as “my rich friend should give me money because they can spare it”. No. They shouldn’t have to take a loss on Final Cut. That would just show them that they should have never devoted resources to it to begin with if people arent even willing to pay for it.

 

[DownUnderDan]

Subscription pricing is necessary because Apple upgrades iOS every bloody year and, likely, makes big enough changes to continually break code. Just keeping up with Apple is a full time job.

Yeah well you just opened another can of worms. Given recent IOS releases, maybe the once a year thing isn’t a good idea either.

 

[DownUnderDan]

I believe companies need to charge higher prices for one-time purchase apps. It will be a rude awakening for iOS/iPadOS users, but these current ridiculously low prices (compared to desktop apps) just can’t be sustainable, as your anecdote exemplifies. That’s probably a major reason if not the major reason for the movement toward subscription pricing. By being unwilling to pay a reasonable price for a perpetual licenses (that will allow companies to operate), consumers are unwittingly the ones causing the spread of the very thing they hate (subscriptions).

Let me know when Final Cut subs are going to be the difference between Apple surviving a financial quarter or going under. Equally as a dev you don’t owe me a livING, anymore then you owe a sub to to the author of the book you just read. It was a business transaction. Subs are the biggest con in software development. They hide the real cost of upgrades in micro transactions, that if you keep paying them offer the publisher multiple times the revenue they would be fairly entitled to for the upgrades of the software. They also encourage changes for changes sake, just to give the impression you are getting some value for your sub. There are better ways to support your favourite apps and developers, they just aren’t as profitable as subs.

 

[citysnaps]

Anybody else wonder if there would be a market for a reborn subscription version of Aperture?

I think that would be pretty difficult to pull off, seeing that Lightroom is soooo far ahead technically at this point in time.

And for some/many, there's the issue of moving large (huge for some) numbers of image files with non-destructive edits over to Aperture. That would be impossible for me.

For me there's no reason I would want to go with Aperture, as I'm totally satisfied with Lightroom.