randyApple's former Chief Architect of Video Applications Randy Ubillos announced on Twitter today that he is retiring after working for 20 years at the Cupertino-based company on professional video and photo software. Ubillos is best known as the creator of the first three versions of Adobe Premiere and KeyGrip, which was sold to Apple and released as Final Cut Pro.

While not a household name like some other Apple employees, Ubillos is well known among those who have used Final Cut Pro or other professional video software. In June 2010, he made a brief appearance on stage during WWDC to demo the latest version of iMovie for iPhone 4 and returned on stage in October 2010 during Apple's "Back to the Mac" event for another demo.

Top Rated Comments

Jamieserg Avatar
110 months ago
and he left us with FCPX?
Which is a fantastic, fast and versatile NLE. When it launched it was lacking features but now it's on par and even superior to the competition in some ways. If you're into your editing you should give it another look if you haven't in a while. It's a different way of editing and has done away from using film analogies, in this digital video world.

I mean each to there own and there's not really a wrong NLE.
Score: 12 Votes (Like | Disagree)
adamjackson Avatar
110 months ago
Randy and his teams have done some really incredible things for video editors around the world. FCP @ $999 was an amazing break through in pricing back when Avid cost 50K+ for an installation. I remember running FCP 3 on a Power Book and thinking....this sort of power on a laptop isn't available anywhere else. iMovie mainstreamed video editing unlike any other product.

The space is full now of cheap video editors but at the time, FCP and iMovie were huge selling points for Macintosh.

I imagine his vested stock options over the last 20 years will leave him with a very good retirement.

AAPL was trading @ $1.50 in 1995 when you factor in splits. It's @ $129 today. I'd say he did pretty well. :)
Score: 10 Votes (Like | Disagree)
brock2621 Avatar
110 months ago
So can we trash FCP X now and get FCP 7 with 64bit support and multicore support?

Sweet mother no...... please no. I've been using FCP-X editing RED Dragon 6k raw .r3d files straight out of camera on a freaking iMac's without having to render. Truly amazing.

The ability to auto sync audio on import? PluralEyes is required to do that in Premiere and that plugin itself costs as much as FCP-X.

The ability to create a group with a single clip, and then use that 20 times in an edit and changing color on ALL 20 of those clips with a single click is amazing. Also, seamless integration with Davinci Resolve is priceless.

It had a bumpy launch but has bloomed into an amazing and critical piece of software that runs insanely smooth.
Score: 7 Votes (Like | Disagree)
Kariya Avatar
110 months ago
Apple bleeding some veteran talent recently. Hopefully the apprentices have been well trained.
Score: 5 Votes (Like | Disagree)
yoak Avatar
110 months ago
I use both premiere and fcx, and fcx is just faster (to edit) when you get the hang of it. The only thing that bugs me is that I can't set the quality of the playback of my RED 6K and 5k like in premiere. Fcx handles it automatically and I often would like less quality on my aging Mac pro for better performance.
I now love things I laughed at in the beginning; Share to Vimeo or YouTube.
I thought that was for holiday videos, but it's great to show client versions this way. All I have to do when finished a version, hit share, it's renderd, coded and uploaded to Vimeo. I'm already sitting in my sofa when an email tells me it's ready to be shared from Vimeo and I can do that from my iPhone
Thanks.

I do understand that other nles might be better suited in a larger collaborate environment, but I'm not in one, is FCX works great for me on a lot of projects
Score: 4 Votes (Like | Disagree)
LethalWolfe Avatar
110 months ago
GOOD RIDDANCE! This guy destroyed the Apple Pro applications market. He ruined FCP, and overall did nothing to help professional video editors.

Maybe now we can re-claim the pro portion of our apps and hardware for actual pros.

Nothing to help pro video editors? He was one of the original creators of Premiere and then left to create KeyGrip (which was purchased by Apple and became FCP). When people in post talk about the 'three A's' it's Adobe, Apple and Avid and this guy has finger prints all over the NLEs from two of those companies.

With regards to X, Randy was originally working on a video logging app as a companion piece to FCP (kinda like what Prelude is to PPro) and when Jobs saw it he fell in love and said that's what he wants the next FCP to look like, and X was born.
Score: 4 Votes (Like | Disagree)

Popular Stories

Multi Display CarPlay 1

All-New Apple CarPlay Launching Later This Year With These 5 New Features

Friday September 29, 2023 11:29 am PDT by
At WWDC 2022 last year, Apple previewed the next generation of CarPlay, promising deeper integration with vehicle functions like A/C and FM radio, support for multiple displays across the dashboard, personalization options, and more. Apple said the first vehicles with support for the next-generation CarPlay experience would be announced in late 2023, but it has still not shared any additional...
BMW Logo iPhone 15 Pro

Warning: BMW Wireless Charging May Break iPhone 15's Apple Pay Chip

Sunday October 1, 2023 6:14 am PDT by
If you have an iPhone 15 and drive a BMW, it might be best to avoid charging the device with the vehicle's wireless charging pad for now. Over the past week, some BMW owners have complained that their iPhone 15's NFC chip no longer works after charging the device with their vehicle's wireless charging pad, according to comments shared on the MacRumors Forums and X, formerly known as Twitter. ...
iPhone 15 Pro lineup

Apple to Address iPhone 15 Pro Overheating Issue With iOS 17 Update

Saturday September 30, 2023 9:28 am PDT by
Apple plans to release an iOS 17 update to address a bug that may contribute to the reported iPhone 15 Pro and iPhone 15 Pro Max overheating issue, according to a statement the company shared today with MacRumors and Forbes reporter David Phelan. Apple also says some recent updates to third-party apps have overloaded the system and contributed to the overheating issue. The report notes that...
iphone se 4 modified flag edges

iPhone SE 4 Details: Action Button, USB-C Port, Face ID, and More

Wednesday September 27, 2023 1:34 pm PDT by
Significant changes are expected to arrive with Apple's fourth-generation iPhone SE, in terms of both design and hardware, MacRumors has learned. The iPhone SE 4, known internally under the codename Ghost, is expected to receive a new design derived almost entirely from the base model iPhone 14. According to our sources, the iPhone SE 4 will use a modified version of the iPhone 14 chassis...
iPhone 16 Side Feature

iPhone 16 and 16 Pro: Preliminary Weights and Dimensions

Friday September 29, 2023 12:34 pm PDT by
MacRumors has obtained preliminary information on the weights and dimensions planned for the iPhone 16, iPhone 16 Plus, iPhone 16 Pro, and iPhone 16 Pro Max. The information corroborates previous reports suggesting that the iPhone 16 Pro and 16 Pro Max will feature larger displays. iPhone 16 and 16 Plus Current information suggests that the iPhone 16 and 16 Plus will maintain the same...
CarPlay SharePlay

CarPlay Not Working for Some iPhone 15 Users, Possibly Because of USB-C Cables

Friday September 29, 2023 2:27 pm PDT by
CarPlay is not working as expected for some iPhone 15 users, an issue that is likely linked to the transition to USB-C. There are multiple complaints from MacRumors readers and Reddit users who are unable to get CarPlay to work with their new devices. Cable type and available port options are a common theme in the CarPlay reports, with many of the functionality problems linked to USB-A to...
iOS 17

Everything New in iOS 17.1 Beta 1

Wednesday September 27, 2023 1:57 pm PDT by
Just a week after releasing iOS 17, Apple has seeded the first beta of iOS 17.1 to developers. iOS 17.1 adds some features that Apple promised were coming to iOS 17 in the future, plus it refines and improves some existing features. This guide covers everything new in the first iOS 17.1 beta. Apple Music Favorites You can favorite songs, albums, playlists, and artists in the iOS 17.1...