MacRumors.com

With the news that Shake 4.1's release brought a $2500 price drop to the popular compositing application, most people seem to have missed a less publicized consequence of the release. According to Apple:

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.

This will be the last released version of Shake. This surprising end to Shake was predicted by a Page 2 Rumor along with some new details about this next generation application.

The upcoming high-end compositing replacement software is codenamed Phenomenon and will reportedly be based on the current Motion code, but will build off users existing Shake experience and knowledge. The most unusual aspect of this cross-over is that the new software is not expected until 2008.