Comments on: Shakeup at Avid http://www.freshdv.com/2007/07/shakeup-at-avid.html Serving up fresh, crispy news and views for creators and consumers of digital video Fri, 05 Sep 2008 07:27:28 +0000 http://wordpress.org/?v=2.6 By: Steve Speed http://www.freshdv.com/2007/07/shakeup-at-avid.html#comment-10212 Steve Speed Sat, 28 Jul 2007 14:06:55 +0000 http://www.freshdv.com/2007/07/shakeup-at-avid.html#comment-10212 Their products and pricing have a feeling of yesteryear about them. I was a Xpress Pro user for many years from when it was way ahead of the competition and stable. I tired of having a whole string of updates that actually made the software more buggy and in some cases unusable. I switched to FCS and haven't looked back. I expect Avid to continue down the road with ludicrous pricing strategy to the point where their pro NLE market share is completely overrun buy leaner fitter more ambitious companies. This will leave Avid nowhere to run but into video servers and content management where Apple have already stuck their nose in with FCP Server. You can bet Adobe will be working on something similar too so it's game on for survival for Avid in the medium to long term. Their products and pricing have a feeling of yesteryear about them. I was a Xpress Pro user for many years from when it was way ahead of the competition and stable. I tired of having a whole string of updates that actually made the software more buggy and in some cases unusable. I switched to FCS and haven’t looked back.

I expect Avid to continue down the road with ludicrous pricing strategy to the point where their pro NLE market share is completely overrun buy leaner fitter more ambitious companies. This will leave Avid nowhere to run but into video servers and content management where Apple have already stuck their nose in with FCP Server. You can bet Adobe will be working on something similar too so it’s game on for survival for Avid in the medium to long term.

]]> By: Shane Ross http://www.freshdv.com/2007/07/shakeup-at-avid.html#comment-10168 Shane Ross Sat, 28 Jul 2007 01:26:03 +0000 http://www.freshdv.com/2007/07/shakeup-at-avid.html#comment-10168 I mean...coming from a history of working with Avid (10 years), $5000 is a FANTASTIC price. VERY cheap. When you consider that a full system all but 5 years ago cost between $65k and $120k...that is DARN cheap. The issue is that now they have competition. SERIOUS competition. Not consumer software, but pro software from TWO vendors that offer a full suite of applications for under $1700. Faced with that they have to do something. They can't survive if they try to rely on their old client base who has the deep pockets and would see that as a deal. Because MANY of their clients are now looking at FCP and going "Hey, look at that! I can get a fully loaded HD ready system for about $20,000...or less! Start editing stuff on my laptop for $1200." They look at Avid and see their Laptop offering and see the $5k price tag...and are lacking motion graphics abilities, sound mixing, DVD authoring...and now WORLD CLASS color correction. Ah...but I should have blogged this. I might add it to my post. I mean…coming from a history of working with Avid (10 years), $5000 is a FANTASTIC price. VERY cheap. When you consider that a full system all but 5 years ago cost between $65k and $120k…that is DARN cheap.

The issue is that now they have competition. SERIOUS competition. Not consumer software, but pro software from TWO vendors that offer a full suite of applications for under $1700. Faced with that they have to do something. They can’t survive if they try to rely on their old client base who has the deep pockets and would see that as a deal. Because MANY of their clients are now looking at FCP and going “Hey, look at that! I can get a fully loaded HD ready system for about $20,000…or less! Start editing stuff on my laptop for $1200.” They look at Avid and see their Laptop offering and see the $5k price tag…and are lacking motion graphics abilities, sound mixing, DVD authoring…and now WORLD CLASS color correction.

Ah…but I should have blogged this. I might add it to my post.

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