Apple quietly puts Final Cut Studio back on sale
After retiring it earlier this year, the company is again selling the $999 software, but only to sell off existing stock of the product, and through phone sales instead of in stores.
In a move to sell off existing stock, Apple is once again selling Final Cut Studio 3, the professional video-editing software it discontinued earlier this year.
Macrumors noted today that Apple put the software bundle on sale, despite having discontinued it months earlier with the release of Final Cut Pro X. The software is only being made available through Apple's phone sales, and not its online or retail stores, the blog notes. The price is $999, which is what the bundle cost before the release of Final Cut Pro X.
An Apple spokeswoman told CNET that the software was still retired.
"As we've done before with many end-of-life software products, we have a limited quantity of Final Cut Studio still available through Apple telesales to customers who need them for ongoing projects," the spokeswoman said.
Apple released Final Cut Pro X as a $299 Mac App Store exclusive in June. Some longtime users felt like the newer version was too much of a departure from previous versions of the software, and responded with criticisms both online and in their reviews of the software. The software was even the butt of a joke by late-night talk show host Conan O'Brien, whose staff produced a video parody of its new features. Apple responded with a frequently asked questions page that noted additional features would be added in future versions of the software.
Apple faced a similar backlash in the transition from iMovie HD 6 to iMovie '09, with the newer version of the bundled iLife software undergoing a complete overhaul. As a result, Apple offered a free downloadable copy of iMovie HD 6 to users who wanted to continue to use the older version while upgrading to the rest of the iLife suite.
Updated at 7:09 p.m. PT with comment from Apple.