I first heard the name “Final Cut Pro” in November of 2001. This was when a producer asked me to get up to speed on it for a corporate gig the following January. It was probably the very next day that I read online that Final Cut Pro was going to be sold.

It’s a rumor that won’t die.

Ever.

This years’ rumors have a slightly different tenor. Apple pulled out of NAB. For whatever reason they state, with $18 billion cash in the bank – money isn’t the issue. Or – at least, potential access to money isn’t the issue. This non-MBA imagines that Jobs forces each division to stand on its own and if ProApps has money problems such that they didn’t think a booth was worth the expense… perhaps they’re having trouble meeting their margins. At least Avid has an excuse for its NAB disappearing act that Apple doesn’t, Avid is undergoing a major re-organiztion. They’ll be back at NAB once their new strategy is ready to roll.

If you want to read what I consider the most interesting analysis on Apple selling ProApps, then check out this article by Robert X. Cringley.

Cringley’s analysis helped me gather my thoughts on something else that is bothering me about Apple’s handling of its ProApps division. And its has me starting to wonder if Apple is the best company to manage the Final Cut Studio array of products. Specifically, it’s Apple’s handling of BluRay that’s the heart of my misgivings.

None of Apple’s ProApps support BluRay DVD creation. Final Cut won’t export to BluRay. Compressor won’t encode to BluRay. DVD Studio Pro won’t author BluRay. Not a single Mac ships with BluRay playback or burning. And my wife’s business is getting weekly calls for BluRay duplication and authoring.

For the first time in my memory, Apple has fallen behind my customers!

Why? Why? Why is Apple forcing me to consider buying Adobe Encore or (hissssss) a PC-based authoring tool for a need my clients want today?

It drives me nuts that a company so forward-thinking is dropping the ball on next-generation content creation. As Cringley points out in an earlier article on Apple’s (lack of) BluRay strategy, the answer is probably summed up in one concept: High-Def Downloads.

In other words: Apple’s consumer strategy is now at odds with its development of its ProApps product line.

Is it possible that Apple no longer deserves to handle the ProApps division? Has Apple finally reached its inflection point where it will sacrifice its traditionally strong and loyal ProApps customers for its newfound success in content delivery?

I don’t know.

I know this: For the first time in 7 years I’m not discounting the Cringley analysis. For once, the rumors may be true.

If Apple does sell the Pro Apps division at a time when it’s still holding back on delivering BluRay creation tools… I’ll say, good riddance – it was a great ride but it will have been time for both businesses to move on.

UPDATE 1: Not everyone buys Cringley’s analysis.

- pi

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Related posts:

1. Avid Scared Out of the Water?
2. NAB 2010 – Initial Thoughts
3. Errata – BluRay & Compressor 3
4. MBAs Gone Wild
5. We’re Baaaaack…