Adobe Systems Inc. on Monday announced a new version of its digital video application, Premiere. The new version adds features and is completely redesigned, but the company also dropped support for the Macintosh, citing financial considerations and Apple’s continued foray into the software market as reasons for the decision, News.com reports.
Adobe’s main competitor in the digital video editing space is Apple’s Final Cut Pro. The new version, announced at NAB in April, became available last month and incorporated over 300 new features, according to Apple.
“If Apple’s already doing an application, it makes the market for a third-party developer that much smaller,” said David Trescot, senior director of Adobe’s digital video products group. “I think you’re going to find that more and more — if Apple’s in a software market, third-party vendors are going to skip it.”
In response to the news, Apple issued a statement welcoming Premiere customers to make the switch to the Mac.
“With the announcement of the new Power Mac G5 and the innovations in Final Cut Pro 4, there has never been a better time for Premiere customers to make the switch,” Apple said in a statement. “Even with this, Adobe and Apple continue to have a great relationship, as evidenced by Adobe’s recent support of the new Power Mac G5 with Photoshop performance that is twice as fast as before.”
Premiere was not Adobe’s only announcement of the day: the company also announced a new version of After Effects, bringing it to version 6.0. The new version does support the Mac and integrates a new text engine for creating unique typographic animations. The new text capabilities in After Effects 6.0 allow users to type, edit and format text directly in the Composition window, providing immediate results.
Among other new features, Adobe also included performance optimizations in after Effects, including support for OpenGL, which improves the speed and interactivity of on-screen rendering, according to the company.
Adobe After Effects for Mac OS X 10.2.6, Microsoft Windows 2000 and Windows XP is expected to ship in the U.S. and Canada by the end of August 2003. After Effects 6.0 will be available for US$699 for the Standard edition and $999 for the Professional Edition. Registered users of the Standard edition can upgrade to After Effects 6.0 for $199. Registered users of the Professional edition can upgrade to After Effects 6.0 for $299. Owners of previous versions of the Standard edition can upgrade to the Professional edition for $499. Both versions will be available through Adobe’s licensing and education programs.