Apple Releases Shake 4.1, Drops Price To $499

chasingporsches writes "Today, Apple released the long-awaited Universal Binary version of Shake, their high-end compositing application. Its new version is 4.1 and is available from their online store or as a crossgrade from version 4.0 for $49. The price of Shake has been dropped significantly, from $2999 to $499. (Educational version is $249.) The minimum system requirements imply that this could run on any new Mac, including the iMac, Mac mini, MacBook Pro, and MacBook, as well as older PowerPC-based Macs."

Comments

Market share not profits

[Space cowboy]

It looks as though Apple is really going for the jugular in terms of wanting market share. The "old" Apple would have kept the price high and raked in the profits, the "new" Apple price hardware and software keenly (still with a slight premium if you don't want the h/w extras that come with a Mac), but still far cheaper than they used to be.

So Aperture got a price reduction, Shake has just dropped through the floor, and the machines are competitively priced... I was quoting "old" and "new" above because the guard hasn't really changed, but it seems the rules of engagement have been given a bit of a shake-up. I like the "new" Apple better, bodes well for things to come :-)

Simon

Re:No Justification

[That's Unpossible!]

There is no possible way to justify software costing 3 Grand.

Sure there is, it's called "the market."

If people are willing to pay that price, it's justified.

Even at 500 dollars, I will just go and download it on mininova.

You're not their target market. I don't really think they care if you download it, since all it's likely to do is influence your buying decisions in the future (you or someone like you). However, a production studio of any size and legitimacy would not risk their entire business just to save $500 or $3000 on software.

Expensive software is exactly why people pirate stuff anyway. Why dont people learn this?

Why should they have to "learn this" when they are making money selling it at the prices they choose?

Just because you can't afford it or won't pay it doesn't mean no one's buying it.

Typical Slashdot user myopia. "If I'm not doing it, no one is!"

If you sell your stuff cheaper, people will actually BUY it.

Yeah, why not give it away for free and make your profits up in volume?!

Re:Yes

[conigs]

It's not a 1337 thing, it's a business thing. When powerful software gets into the hands of the untrained, the trend seems to be that it lowers the value of the services of people who do know what they are doing.

Don't get me wrong, I think it's great that people will get a chance to use Shake (and software like it). But look at the trend in the design world. As the barrier to entry is lowered, so is the quality of work as well as the value of that work (over the entire industry).

I can't tell you how many times I've heard agencies say "We don't need to use a post house, we have Final Cut Pro now." Only they can't attract the tallent or experience that a post house has. Taken one step further, there was a client of an agency we work with who decided to get FCP and some cameras and drop the agency all together. Only now their commercials are stuck with a 4-year-old campaign (that's starting to look dated), their tallent looks like he's aged about 15 years because of poor lighting, and the editing and graphics are lacking.

I'm not saying the price drop in Shake is entirely bad, just that it will bring in more people who think they know what they're doing, when really they have no idea. And suddenly the professionals who have been using it for quite some time look like they're gouging their clients because some kid in his mom's basement can get the same tools.

Oh, and to anyone who says "Hey, your business model should be changing to fit the market." That's not the issue, it's that the market thinks our services should be cheaper because Timmy, the VP's nephew can do the same thing because he has a computer with FCP/Shake/Photoshop/whatever. They for some reason don't realize that experience and training go a long way.

Re:Nice price drop

[jcr]

We also had a lot of people who were quite capable of editing, designing motion graphics and compositing, who couldn't afford to produce a film before Apple brought the capabilities of million-dollar systems down into an under-$3K package. Get over yourself, you snob.

-jcr