What should Apple do with Final Cut Pro?

Phillips Hodgetts shares his latest thinking on What should Apple do with Final Cut Pro?

For some background see Final Cut Studio 4: a double scoop.

Update: via @johnmontfx with caveat is Troubled development, 2011 launch rumored for Apple's Final Cut Studio. Rumor has it that besides a massive porting effort, delay is partly due to issues finding a balance between Shake and Motion.

Shake $499, end of life or rebirth?

Apple announced version of 4.1 of Shake, reducing the price from $2999 to $499. It runs on both Intel- and PowerPC-Based Macs.

Maintenance customers have been told that "Apple will no longer be selling maintenance for Shake and no further software updates are planned as we begin work on the next generation of Shake compositing software."

Rumor patrol:
- ...probably means, in part, they can get rid of the legal entanglements of having to release it for Linux.
- Tremor vs. Inferno

- Nowadays it's more about pipeline integration, collaboration, real-time 2D/3D, scalability, asset management, that kind of stuff. Shake isn't any closer to being a real-time app than AE, and with their long view of the hardware future, Apple must have seen a prime moment for a revamp. They are obviously in a much better position than smaller companies, even Autodesk, to knock 80% off their price and sit out the market for a couple of years.

- new Shake will appear in 2008.
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AE is part of Shake

AE for Shake is a full package of macros for Shake to mimic the 124 effects and 30 blend modes of After Effects within Shake. For now up to 124 effects and 30 blend modes are supported. The User Interface is exactly the same in After Effects and Shake which allows a very fast transition between the two packages.