Apple always had an image of being an innovator and general leader of all things exciting, but recently, several questions about this were raised. Many accused the company of not being an innovator anymore, claiming that not only it is dull, but also its products are the same and old. However, real people who have a different opinion say that the brand delivers more than any other in all the product categories in which it operates.
Apple leads in all categories
Research consultancy Brand Keys just released its 2017 Customer Loyalty Engagement Index, which seeks to find the “category drivers that engage customers,” drive real profits and engender loyalty. The survey included 49,168 consumers in the age group 16 to 65. The result will definitely make Apple CEO Tim Cook happy.
Apple was found to be the top driver in the smartphones, laptops and tablets category. This is when Apple’s recently-launched MacBook Pro had not been that successful. Even Apple Music made it to the top spot in online music, defeating rival Spotify. In the headphones category, Apple-owned Beats was tied with LG, the firm said.
In a press release, Brand Keys president Robert Passikoff said customer expectations in all product categories are expected to soar. For example, customer expectations grew 35% in the online sector in the past 12 months.
Apple updates pro video apps
Apple also recently updated its video editing tools, including Final Cut Pro X, Motion and Compressor, with several bug fixes, minor additions and general improvements. Final Cut Pro got a large number of new features, including a handful of audio-related capabilities, notes Apple Insider.
Apple has especially highlighted the ability to add custom folders of audio files to the Sound Effects browser. The company updated the user interface tools as well, after which the application of ripple delete to audio-only clips doesn’t disable the selected range. Also audio meters retain their custom width settings after relaunching the app.
Increased responsiveness when editing long project files, better H.264 file handling for exporting and changing frame rate are among the other changes. For better handling of transparencies, the ProRes 4444 file support has been improved as well.
Several issues have also been fixed, such as the one in which adjusting the line spacing of multi-line titles applied to the first line only. The issue that prevented burning Final Cut Pro projects to DVD via Apple USB SuperDrive has also been fixed.
