Readers of AppleMagazine may recall that last month, we reported on a group of people involved in TV and film production putting their signatures to an open letter addressed to Apple CEO Tim Cook. In that letter, they called on him to do more to draw attention to the software’s merits for professional video editing, as well as to “add the few remaining features that our industry has consistently stated are needed.”
Well, to the possible surprise of some, Apple has issued a response, and it makes interesting reading for anyone seeking clues as to the Cupertino company’s potential next moves with the program.
Apple wrote: “To the authors of the recent open letter regarding Final Cut Pro in the TV and film industry: the creative community has always been so important to us at Apple, and we’re grateful for your feedback.”
In its response, Apple hailed the “many compelling projects created to date with Final Cut Pro – from Hollywood movies and high-profile commercials, to major television shows and impressive work by the biggest names in online content creation.”
The company expressed a belief that “we have plans in place to help address your important feature requests”, but also acknowledged a need to “work alongside you to help support your film and TV projects and keep you posted on important updates.”
Apple then proceeded to set out the steps it intended to take to accomplish this, with one of those being the launch of “new training products and Apple-authorized certifications for pro video starting this month with our partner Future Media Concepts.”
Apple also signaled that from this summer, it would set up a panel of industry experts for regular consultations, and that it had plans to expand the “content and frequency of Final Cut Pro workshops for major film and television productions.”
The response concluded: “We would love to work with you to help support your film and TV projects, and we will continue to explore opportunities that allow us to better connect and foster important dialogue with our devoted community of users going forward.”
They are warm words indeed from Apple, and it is pleasing to see that the firm does seem to have been receptive to the concerns expressed in the well-publicized open letter.
Does it indicate that we can dare to dream about further information setting out the future direction of Final Cut Pro at the forthcoming Worldwide Developers Conference? As always with these things, time will tell.
