Assuming these rumours are true, and in the absence of any Apple comment either overseas or locally (which is to be expected based on past history), why would this have happened?

I can of course speak both hypothetically and from experience. Let's take the hypothetical first.

Apple makes a shedload of money, and I presume the majority of its earnings/profit, from iPhones and iPods. Let's face it, they probably cost pennies to make and have a nice fat profit margin, let alone the run on effect of the iTunes store. (Although rumours have also been rife for a few years that iTunes makes little profit if any, and all the dollars Apple makes is in the hardware side. Having worked in record companies, and knowing how bloody minded and protective they are, I can believe that).

So if - let's be hypothetical - if Apple makes 30% of its nett from iPods and iPhones, which once are designed, have little overhead until a revamp is needed, then having 40 or more engineers looking after a product that I venture is NOT a big seller means something has to give. It's pure economics.

In the past, Apple owned the creative space. But today, no matter a PC with Windows 7, Vista or XP, Photoshop is Photoshop - and yes there is little if any contest. Same for Illustrator, Acrobat, Bridge or any other Adobe app. These guys own the roost in that discipline.

Video is a bit different though. AVID is still kicking as the "standard, Edius has had a HUGE resurgence, Sony Vegas is more fanboi-ish than FCP will ever be, Premiere still hangs in there and even "lesser" packages such as those from Magix, Corel/Ulead and other smaller players have more features and functionality at under $200 in many cases than say Premiere or FCP had only a couple of years back.

Whereas Premiere and After Effects used to be 'it', Adobe dropped Premiere for the Mac some years ago in a feet stamping exercise when Apple announced Final Cut. Adobe did bring it back, but too litle too late I suspect. The damage was done. After Effects is still the tool for motion graphics, again no question, but it like its brethren is still the same on a PC or a Mac.

While the creative bods may clamour for a Mac, tight financial constraints may be forcing the man-with-the-wallet that he or she will get a PC and Windows 7, so tough. I am guessing there is more of this than not.

And from personal experience, as  AusCam is the Australian distributor for the VASST series of training DVDs, put together by Douglas Spotted Eagle of Sundance fame, and fronted by relevant experienced and certified trainers in Final Cut as well as Sony Vegas, Avid Liquid, Adobe Premiere and so on, in three years we have NEVER sold a Final Cut training video that I can remember.

Acquaintances who are seasoned FCP users (and not Apple fanbois) say that the latest versions are behind the times, and other packages - especially Vegas and Edius it seems from where we sit  - have leaped ahead of the timeline - pardon the pun.

So my guess is that Apple will be dropping their high end stuff in the video area, (including servers etc) and concentrating on the lucrative consumer market where the profit is.

Time will tell. But it is good business sense, and no-one can ever say, Apple fan or no, that Apple and Jobs especially does not have business sense.

Perhaps the iPad may change that though.

By David Hague

David Hague is the owner and publisher of AusCam Online. He has a background in media dating back to 1979 when he first got involved with photojournalism in motorsport, and went from there into technology via a 5 year stint with Tandy Computers. Following that, he ran a software distribution company on the Gold Coast and was one of the first to recognise the potential of Microsoft Windows.

Moving back to WA, David wrote scripts for Computer Television for video training for the just released Windows and Office 95 among others, and was then lured to Sydney to create web sites for the newly commercial Internet in 1995, building hundreds of sites under contract to OzEmail including Coates Hire, Hertz Queensland, John Williamson, the NSW Board of Studies and many, many more.

He went back into full time journalism as the Managing Editor for Channel 7's 'Gadget Guy', Peter Blasina's publications VideoCamera and Pixelmag, before starting Australasian Camcorder magazine when these publications were shelved. He now lives back in WA (Mandurah) on the ocean front with dog Budweiser and in his spare time is a nut for motor sport, road safety (he is on the Roadwise committee for Mandurah City Council), fishing, science fiction - especially Dr Who - and technology.

David can be contacted via david@auscamonline.com, vbthedog@gmail.com via Twitter via @vbthedog. or