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Adobe and Avid Target Final Cut Pro Users With 'Switcher' Discounts

Friday July 1, 2011 7:12 am PDT by Eric Slivka
Adobe today announced a new "switcher" promotion clearly designed to take advantage of the significant amount of criticism being levied against Apple's new Final Cut Pro X. The new program offers a 50% discount on either Creative Suite CS5.5 Production Premium or Premiere Pro CS5.5 to current users of Apple's Final Cut Pro or Avid's Media Composer. Certain current Adobe users are also eligible for the promotion.
"We're hearing from video professionals that they want pro level tools that address cutting edge work but also allow them to use legacy footage and workflows," said Jim Guerard, general manager and vice president of professional video and audio, Adobe. "At Adobe we've been in the trenches with video pros for years and with Adobe Premiere Pro CS5.5 and CS5.5 Production Premium we've delivered professional-grade tools that are already being battle-tested by some of the most innovative filmmakers, broadcasters and video pros."
Adobe's switcher program is limited to commercial customers and is valid through September 30th.

Avid has also taken advantage of Apple's issues, once again offering Final Cut Pro users more than 50% off of its Media Composer software, pricing it at $995 compared to the usual $2,295 download price and $2,495 boxed price. The discounted pricing is available for existing pre-Final Cut Pro X users.
We are listening. And one of the things you have clearly said is that you want Media Composer to be more accessible. In response to your feedback, we are extending the cross-grade to Media Composer - through September. Final Cut Pro (excluding FCP X) users can get Media Composer 5.5 at the promotional price of $995 USD. You can order the cross-grade as of next Tuesday, July 5th.
Avid had offered the crossgrade promotion from mid-April through June 17th after Apple took over the Final Cut Pro User Group SuperMeet at NAB to preview Final Cut Pro X, kicking out Avid and other sponsors of the event in order to have the stage for itself. Avid's decision to renew the crossgrade the program through September is clearly an effort to attract Final Cut Pro users disappointed in the official release of Final Cut Pro X.

[ 258 comments ]


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KnightWRX
102 months ago
The sharks smell blood.
Rating: 24 Votes
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MovieCutter
102 months ago
Gotta hand it to Apple...the definitely fulfilled their promise to make "switching" REALLY easy!!! :cool:
Rating: 23 Votes
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thetexan
102 months ago
Something tells me Apple really doesn't care if they lose the professional market on this one or anything else for that matter. Almost their entire focus is now on the consumer, while ignoring the professional users.
Rating: 17 Votes
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djrod
102 months ago
As some would say, nice strategy to drop the pro market and focus on the consumer, just make your pro customers go away by themselves :p

Apple should have wait till FCP X was more "complete"
Rating: 14 Votes
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dagamer34
102 months ago

The sharks smell blood.


At least for people who said they are switching, it won't hit the wallet quite a hard. Good deal by both companies, especially when you are talking about businesses likely needing to buy several seats.
Rating: 11 Votes
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thevofl
102 months ago
I think a lot of people are missing the impact of these announcements. It isn't that a number of editors are going to switch, because some will. It isn't that Premiere and Avid have or don't have much needed features.

The bigger picture is the perception of Apple's strategy. Right now they are perceived as a pro-prosumer and indifferent to professionals. No matter what the reality is, the perception is not good. When it comes to a brand, perception is reality.

This is a PR nightmare for Apple. I knew it was bad when Conan O'Brien does a skit mocking your new product targeted for a technical industry (no matter how valid it is).

The sharks smell blood.


This is not helping either.

Apple is letting others shape the perception and hence the reality of Apple's own product. This is beginning to spill over into other products.

They need to address this in a meaningful way. Forget about the FAQ page or giving an interview here or there. Steve Jobs needs to have a press conference similar to the iPhone 4 Death Grip. It doesn't need to be as vast as inviting the broad newsmedia, but it needs to be as serious and impactful.
Rating: 11 Votes
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KnightWRX
102 months ago

I think being able to slash 50% off your original selling price really says something about just how much you (over)value your product.


Like Apple did with most of the iLife stuff, Aperture and now FCP ? ;)

Software is a strange beast to price. The development costs are fixed, duplication and distribution costs are pennies on the dollars. What might have cost you 10,000$ to make can bring in millions in sales. What cost you millions to make can bring in 10,000$ in sales.


I'm not a professional editor, but after listening to @lonelysandwich on The Talk Show, I feel that most editors aren't likely to just jump over to a new platform. I think apple with make FCP 7 available again, as they work on bringing FCPX up to speed.


If editors are like enterprise IT, they'll take this as a good lesson in not trusting a vendor without a roadmap and just move to ones that do have a public roadmap they are willing to share. Surprises from vendors is never a good thing for businesses.
Rating: 10 Votes
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.11
102 months ago

I think being able to slash 50% off your original selling price really says something about just how much you (over)value your product.


A sales strategy used to get more customers doesn't mean your product is overvalued.

Making a sacrifice to widen your customer base is something all companies do, just look at the deals on Groupon and LivingSocial, albeit some companies discount their products to heavily and run out of business.

Or look at Microsoft, free 360s so users will buy games, xbox live, or some may even get a Kinect.

Or Apple, free iPod Touch for students, although not this years, but the student would buy apps, accessories and etc. And the free Mac App Store cards, means another iTunes account and more impulse buys.
Rating: 10 Votes
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dethmaShine
102 months ago

...and there goes another one of Apple's pro products. What's left now? They've only got Logic Pro to **** up and they are totally an average-joe based company. :(


Yeah right. Adobe makes a deal and Apple product is dead. That's a very appropriate and logical conclusion.
Rating: 10 Votes
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lucidmedia
102 months ago

I consider myself a "pro", not so much in the field of video editing, but in graphic design and photography. I've also taken some video editing courses and am knowledgeable. From my experience, I feel as though most pros don't usually freak out like this. This whole "burn it now because the new version sucks!" attitude is ridiculous. Most pros usually say "you know, I think I'm just going to keep using what I've got and see how this whole upgrade business ends up shaking out over the course of the next 6 to 12 months." Most pros don't upgrade right away. We are pretty set in our ways, and while embracing new tech is great and we do it often, we understand that it's not always the best idea to jump straight to another platform right after it is released. This isn't play time, there is real money to be made and this is only a tool for us to get said money. If FCP 7 keeps working and they like it then many won't change anything for now.


Most pros have no issues with learning new software or switching from Avid to FCP to Premiere... anyone with experience in the industry has cut on all three...

the outrage comes from the plain and simple fact that Apple has made it perfectly clear that they are no longer interested in supporting or continuing their line of professional tools and software. We all had a sense it was happening, but the other shoe dropped when we finally saw the features of FCPX and Apple released their FAQ answering the concerns raised.
Rating: 10 Votes

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