14 DAY TRIAL // Apple has acquired Silicon Color, the company that makes the FinalTouch color correction software. Apple will be continuing to honor maintenance agreements until they expire and gain all rights to Silicon Color technology as well as its intellectual property.
"We are pleased to announce that all Silicon Color technology and intellectual property, including FinalTouch color correction software, was recently sold to Apple. Maintenance agreements held by current Silicon Color customers will be honored by Apple until they expire," the official announcement reads.
Silicon Color catered to video professionals via its FinalTouch 2K, FinalTouch HD, and FinalTouch SD packages. FinalTouch 2K is designed for the demanding needs of professional film colorists, offering direct support for 10-bit, log-encoded Cineon and DPX files without requiring time consuming conversion or proxy-generation steps. FinalTouch 2K is priced at $25,000. FinalTouch HD features tight Final Cut Pro integration via XML and direct support for QuickTime media while offering many of the same features as its larger sibling, FinalTouch 2K. FinalTouch HD is available for $5,000. FinalTouch SD is the latest product from Silicon Color, designed for the production facility that hasn't yet moved to high-definition. The software offers color correction for users working with DV-CAM, Digi-Beta, or any other SD format, and is available for $1,000.
It might be a little too early for this kind of speculation, but it looks like the third party software that used to cost $24,000 might now become an integral part of the $499 FinalCutPro upgrade package. If this comes to pass, it will be big news for Final Cut Pro users, both current and potential, and could lead to greater FCP adoption.