Apple updates Final Cut Pro X and other pro tools

On the same day that Apple said it would drop further development of professional photo-editing tool Aperture, the company has announced a variety of enhancements for other key professional tools.

The tech giant today released upgrades to its video editor Final Cut Pro X, motion graphics creator Motion, video compressor Compressor, and live music application MainStage.

The updates include the ability to store optimized, proxy, and rendered media at any location outside the library for Final Cut Pro X, improvements in Sequence Text behavior for animation in Motion, and bug fixes in Compressor and MainStage.

Some might interpret today’s news as an attempt to show professionals that the company still cares about them, even after dropping updates for Aperture.

“Usually you kill a software product when it’s not making enough to pay for its upkeep or doesn’t create any incentive for users to purchase additional products,” Forrester VP and principal analyst Jeffrey Hammond told VentureBeat.

“In this case,” he said, “I think Aperture saw a lot competition from other products, like Adobe’s Lightroom, and it didn’t make sense to keep evolving it as a standalone product.”

“I don’t read a larger issue [with regard to] Apple not being in the software business for pros,” Hammond added. “[It’s] more that they will produce software where they can make money, and they won’t when they can’t.”

Via TechCrunch