Apple leaving professional market?

[Damphousse]

17 hours ago, IronFilm said:

Someone could have asked a while ago why would any one ever buy a phone from a computer company?!

Not sure what company you are talking about.  This thread is about Apple.  And as we all know Apple was not a computer company even before the iphone was introduced they made most of their revenue from the predecessor of the iphone.  It was called the ipod.  You proved my point.

Apple's business is marketing expensive consumer electronics... Well two pieces of consumer electronics in their history to be exact.  First the ipod and then the iphone.   Everything else has been a side show.

So anyone being surprised at the neglect for the professional world is delusional.

[Mokara]

10 hours ago, Andrew Reid said:

Why wouldn't it be an x86 instruction set compatible chip?

Just because they are currently making ARM based processors doesn't mean to say Apple can't do an AMD type CPU in future.

Laptops and desktops don't really need RISC architecture... Whether pro or not.

Apple will stay in the pro market and everything else is just speculation for clicks

Because to do that they would need to hold a X86 architectural license. Currently only Intel, AMD and VIA have licenses, and I doubt Intel have any desire to make that lineup broader  outside of niche applications.

Apple might be able to make something similar, but it would not be compatible with the PC universe. It is more likely that any move to use their own processors would result in a complete severing of the connection Apple has to the PC world.

[Trek of Joy]

2 hours ago, Damphousse said:

Not sure what company you are talking about.  This thread is about Apple.  And as we all know Apple was not a computer company even before the iphone was introduced they made most of their revenue from the predecessor of the iphone.  It was called the ipod.  You proved my point.

Apple's business is marketing expensive consumer electronics... Well two pieces of consumer electronics in their history to be exact.  First the ipod and then the iphone.   Everything else has been a side show.

So anyone being surprised at the neglect for the professional world is delusional.

If memory serves, 2006 was the only year iPod revenue accounted for more than Macs. And the difference wasn't very significant. I believe it wasn't until 2009 that the iPhone took the #1 position in revenue. Now they are certainly a consumer electronics company, but your history is a little fuzzy.

FCPx has been out a long time, and its seen comprehensive updates. LogicX seems to be doing fine. The trashcan Pro is a mistake they've acknowledged and they're developing its replacement. You say they're neglecting the professional world, but I can't think of another company that offers the level of hardware/software integration within the Apple ecosystem that's evolved over the last few years. Its not perfect, but its easy to see where they're going. Dumping Intel is a logical move toward more seamless vertical integration.

Even if they shuttered FCPx today, I'd still use it over the clunky alternatives. The free updates over the years have been more than you get from from anyone else. And today we get ProRes raw. That's some pretty nice neglect. YMMV.

chris

[IronFilm]

4 hours ago, Damphousse said:

Not sure what company you are talking about.  This thread is about Apple.  And as we all know Apple was not a computer company even before the iphone was introduced they made most of their revenue from the predecessor of the iphone.  It was called the ipod.  You proved my point.

Seriously? You don't know what company I'm referring to?

Oh dear, now I'm feeling really old. You don't have to go that far back in history.....

4 hours ago, Damphousse said:

Apple's business is marketing expensive consumer electronics... Well two pieces of consumer electronics in their history to be exact.  First the ipod and then the iphone.   Everything else has been a side show.

Wow, Apple has never been in the business of anything else?!  (as more than just a "side show")

Yeah, I'm "old". Either that or a historian. 

[IronFilm]

1 hour ago, Trek of Joy said:

Now they are certainly a consumer electronics company, but your history is a little fuzzy.

Exactly. *NOW* they are.  But easily for the majority of Apple's history the iPhone (or iPod) hasn't been their core revenue. 

[jonpais]

 Seems to me that innovations like ProRes RAW certainly show Apple’s continuing commitment to professional filmmakers. But that’s just me. 

[slonick81]

5 hours ago, jonpais said:

Seems to me that innovations like ProRes RAW certainly show Apple’s continuing commitment to professional filmmakers.

That's was expected. You need to store 1 value per pixel for Bayer raw instead of 3 for RGB or 1.5 YUV422 video stream + debayering, so you'll get less processing and smaller stream with same compression ratio.

This aside, I still cant get how prores became an industry standart with it's "fuck Win/Lin/*BSD platforms" attitude.

[jonpais]

?

[mnewxcv]

if apple pro goes away, hopefully then software developers will start supporting windows for professional and commercial applications. There is no reason for apple to be the standard for pros when it is more expensive and less powerful. 

[slonick81]

1 hour ago, jonpais said:

?

Is it about raw or industry standart part?

Compressing raw is just common practice - Red, Cineform, cDNG, Canon raw lite, it's rational to compress before debayer and leave it to post. It would be strange if Apple ignores this opportunity.

Standarts... Apple introduced intermediate codec not only with obvious vendor lock-in but with platform lock-in as well. And it's fine, it's Apple in their right to follow thier business model. But somehow the industry abandoned the idea of open standard intermidiate codec, ignored other intermidiate codecs and here we now: "- We need masters in ProResLT! - What about DNxHR? - What's that?" Ok, "ffmpeg.exe -c:v prores_ks -profile:v 1 ..." and here we go but still some frustration left.

And I'm afraid that industry will switch to this raw flavour of ProRes, and it won't have effective implementation outside OS X.

[IronFilm]

2 hours ago, slonick81 said:

This aside, I still cant get how prores became an industry standart with it's "fuck Win/Lin/*BSD platforms" attitude.

I dislike this too. 

[Jim Giberti]

18 hours ago, Damphousse said:

Apple's business is marketing expensive consumer electronics... Well two pieces of consumer electronics in their history to be exact.  First the ipod and then the iphone.   Everything else has been a side show.

So anyone being surprised at the neglect for the professional world is delusional.

Wow, my accountant is going to be shocked that we've spent all these years as part of a delusional side show.

Man am I glad I read your post.

[Damphousse]

5 hours ago, Jim Giberti said:

Wow, my accountant is going to be shocked that we've spent all these years as part of a delusional side show.

Man am I glad I read your post.

No one said anything about a "delusional side show" and I have no idea what you are a "part of".  I get it if you picked today to be angry on the internet to get your rocks off but please do it in some other thread and don't quote me.  It is just childish.

[jonpais]

@Damphousse Those were your very words, man. Take a chill pill.

[Robert Collins]

Mac Pro update delayed until 2019

https://***URL removed***/news/5093932298/report-apple-won-t-release-the-next-mac-pro-until-2019

[fuzzynormal]

When I first read the post title I figured it was a zombie thread from 2009.

The demise of Apple for professionals has been happening for 25 years now. I guess sooner or later they may get around to it. 

[jhnkng]

On 04/04/2018 at 8:28 PM, Mokara said:

It is not like Apple mobile chips are better than anyone else's.

Err.. what?

https://www.androidauthority.com/why-are-apples-chips-faster-than-qualcomms-gary-explains-802738/

TL;DR --

"There is no denying that Apple has a world class CPU design team that has consistently produced the best SoCs in the world over the last few years." 

Anyway, it's hardly surprising that Apple would try to bring their chip designs in house, like they have for pretty much every bit of their business (besides manufacturing.) In any case Apple sells a whole range of Macs, they're not all going to go internal all at once. At a guess the Macbook will be the first -- it's basically an iPad with a bad keyboard -- but certainly there may be Apple designed chips for the 13in Macbook Pro. We think Pro means heavy duty computing applications, but it's pretty obvious Apple sees "Pro" as meaning anyone who uses it for work. They've  prioritised things like size and battery life over raw power, when to be honest I think I'd rather an option for raw power at the expense of size or battery life. 

As a fun aside, I have a fully specced first gen 15in MBP with the Touch Bar, and my iPad runs Fortnite better than my very very expensive laptop. So don't discount what's possible with mobile hardware when you have the opportunity to really optimise for it. 

Also, err, Prores RAW. Developing a new codec that will be invaluable to only a very core niche of video professionals is hardly the action of a company who are abandoning the Pro market. 

 

[Damphousse]

9 hours ago, Robert Collins said:

Mac Pro update delayed until 2019

https://***URL removed***/news/5093932298/report-apple-won-t-release-the-next-mac-pro-until-2019

The uniform level of disappointment with the "pro" line and Apple in general in the comments pretty much tells the tale.  I like to read the comments just to do a reality check.  I like to see where my assessment is compared to the general population.  I don't have vitriol like some of the people posting in the comments but I figured out what was going to happen with the "pro" line a long time ago.

 

It is funny to watch people try and defend this even when Apple themselves says they screwed up...

Quote

The current Mac Pro—colloquially referred to as the trash can Mac Pro because of its form factor—was released all the way back in 2013, and even Apple admitted that the design was a mistake. In April of 2017, Apple executive Craig Federighi told BuzzFeed News that the company had "designed ourselves into a bit of a corner" with the circular form-factor, and Phil Schiller promised users that Apple was "completely rethinking the Mac Pro" for the next generation.

Mistake or not if it works for some people great.  But the quirky designs and delayed updates and refreshes should really not come as a surprise to anyone in 2018.

[TwoScoops]

Wish the failure the trashcan MP was would actually reflect in used ebay prices. lol

[Trek of Joy]

Perhaps the delay on the new Mac Pro is because of the original question in this thread - a switch from Intel?

The Prores raw announcement has many in the professional world pretty excited. I convert to prores before editing, its so much more fluid for my workflow. Its interesting to see comments about how Apple has ignored pro's, yet Prores is still a dominant codec in the professional realm. FCPx is used in many production houses, newsrooms and so on. Apple claims 2.5 million FCPx seats, so someone is buying it.

It'll be interesting to see what happens to current apps if they do switch from Intel. Will FCPx require a rewrite that makes it incompatible with Intel machines?