Last Minute Final Cut Speculation from a Panel of Industry Pros

With what is anticipated to be mere hours before we see the next version of Final Cut (if that's still the name) we've done our share of speculating here in the halls of TDL. It's interesting to get the take from a panel of industry experts, one of which has actually played with the software.

The Editor's Lounge brought together several editors and production house execs for their annual Pre-NAB show. This year, the first part of the panel was dedicated to thoughts on Final Cut. If you're a Final Cut user, and the suspense is killing you, here are some professional prognostications to fill another 20 minutes:

PreNAB Editors' Lounge 2011 Part 1 from Editors' Lounge on Vimeo.

What comes after the iPad?

While browsing through the blog archives, I found a nugget I had written in August of 2009, with the title "After the tablet, what's next?" 

It seems more timely now that we know what the "tablet" actually is, so here it is again for fresh discussion:

In the world of trying to predict what's next for Apple, you can never be too far ahead. So we say, let's leapfrog over this whole tablet thing, and go straight to the next paradigm-shifting device: The _______. After the tablet, what's left? Apple has conquered the world of digital music. The iPhone is well on the way to dominating smartphone and/or all phone sales. The tablet could re-invent a sleepy product category, but then what? 

Maybe we see an Apple-branded TV, but that would feel like a small evolution: most likely taking a monitor from one of the big manufacturers, and throwing an Apple TV in it. 

While we would never count Apple out when it comes to re-defining a product category, or creating a brand new one, perhaps we're nearing the end of the golden age of hardware advances. Apple could conceivably put a gaming console on the market, but the Pippin didn't do too well. Sure, these are different times, but it's also a market with three strong console manufacturers, and becoming the fourth wouldn't guarantee success. (bear in mind no one is making iPhone money in console hardware sales, with most breaking even.)

One possible future frontier for Apple would be services. Who wouldn't want to see cable television re-envisioned? Or maybe Apple would become a phone carrier. As far-fetched as these ideas sound, the company will have to go further and further afield to find new product categories/services. iPhones will get cheaper, iPods will get smaller, Macs will get faster, and tablets will get whatever it is tablets get. But the question is, will that be enough for Apple, or will they branch even further from their computer roots?

The Tablet: Our Most Expected Unexpected Feature

We're busy baking today at TDL: Why not put some icing on the speculation cake... Tomorrow, unveiled for all will be "Apple'S LATEsted creation." While we know absolutely nothing for sure about the device, that means it's a perfect time to talk about a feature we expect to see on the Canvas/iSlate/iPad that we haven't heard people talking about anywhere else.

If the new device is indeed media oriented, that means portable movies and tv shows on a screen bigger,brighter, and crisper than the iPhone. If, as expected, the device has a ten inch screen, that will make it awkward to hold for a full feature film. There's always the chance it will have some sort of stand built-in, but there's probably a better chance of the MacBook getting firewire back (again) before that happens.

Keep in mind that the potential customers who have $600-$1,000 to buy a tablet on day one, also are likely to have a large HDTV at home. Isn't that a better way to watch a movie if you're already at home to begin with? Enter our expected feature: Wireless HDMI. A small dongle shipped with the device could attach to the HDMI port on the television, and turn the tablet into a wireless AppleTV when you're at home. True, a dongle isn't Apple's style, but not having the function sleekly built into the tablet certainly is. If you're going to have a dongle, it's best to have it hidden behind the TV, right?

What feature do you think might surprise us all tomorrow?

With iPhone 2 around the corner, what's in store for the iPod touch?

We're less than five days away from at least the announcement, and who knows... maybe the shipment of the next generation of Apple iPhone. We know iPhone SDK is coming as well, and we know the touch will share much of the same software functionality as the iPhone. Could that mean an iPod touch re-design on Monday as well? Take video, for example. If the iPhone is given the ability to record video, is that a function that could come to the touch too?

And if rumors of a $199 subsidized iPhone prove true, what happens to the touch price point? It can't be less than $199, or it would cut into iPod nano sales. More than $199, and why would someone buy a touch when there would be potentially more functionality in the new iPhone?

Apple has previously stated if a product is going to get cannibalized, they want it to get cannibalized by their own product, rather than someone else's. That may be true here too, but it just seems like the price points could make for a crowded product lineup between $200 and $300.

The iPhone: Turning a missing feature into a hype machine

There's a lot of buzz about the next version of the iPhone, and frankly, it's been that way since shortly after the phone launched. The word, or more precisely number and letter, on everyone's mind is 3G. Yes, 3G. You would think it was the savior of cell phone users everywhere. Curiously, a year ago, most of the country probably hadn't heard of 3G. Yet a year later, it's the must-have feature for the next version of the iPhone. Which got me thinking: what if the iPhone had 3G to begin with? What would we all be talking about now?

Apple has a knack for (whether by design or not) leaving off a feature, or neglecting to add a feature, and then the lack of that feature actually fuels sales and even more talk about the product. Think back to a time when the iPod didn't do video. The buzz reached fever pitch after the iPod Photo. Everyone was suddenly concerned with when would the iPod play video. So here we are again. If the iPhone had 3G from the start, would rumor sites be buzzing about text copy & paste? (another missing feature) or perhaps an iChat client? It's doubtful these kinds of rumors would fuel the tech blogs the way the lack and perceived need of 3G on the phone has.

3G will not make the phone thinner, lighter, give it longer battery life, or make the UI more intuitive. It won't let you copy and paste text, record voice memos, or easily create ringtones. What it does do is provide fuel for the blogger fire for an entire year.

So what do you think? If the iPhone has 3G networking from the beginning, what would everyone be getting ready for now? Do you think Apple deliberately leaves off features to build hype, or are the media/bloggers to blame/credit?