If anything, IBC 2009 made me revise my opinion on AVID technologies.
I have known Avid since before they launch and have seen them like a
significantly arrogant company. They could obviously get away with it
for a while when they were basically the only game in town.
However, during the past 5 years especially, things have changed
significantly. Another company that has an arrogant tendency (when
things go well in a market), Apple Computers has establish themselves
as a formidable competitor to Avid. Final Cut Pro is know the software
that people know and is use by far more people.

This forced Avid to rethink itself. I was skeptical when they
presented their new logo an image. I must say, their attitude has
change. This was a question of survival and they seem to have taken
notes.

2 years ago, I was dismissing them completely, not anymore. I would
look at them again for a project.

One thing that is fundamental and that we have to consider:

-Avid core business is video editing. They live and die by it.

-Apple Computers core business is computers. For them FCP is a way to
gain market share in a vertical market. Now they do.

How much motivation Apple has still to invest a lot in the video
market place. Their iPod and iPhone business is booming, Mac sales are
up. iMovie is certainly part of their offering with Quicktime. But
FCP? How much innovation are they going to do in it on the long term?

Avid on the other hand has no options. They must innovate and compete
in the video editing market or become irrelevant and disappear. In a
market where the high end is shrinking and where the low end is occupy
by a virtually free software, will Avid find enough business to prosper?

It’s a question that only the future will solve, but I don’t discard
Avid anymore and I hope they manage to grow their market back.
Competition is good for innovation.