Apple has announced that it now has two million Final Cut Pro X users – or ‘seats,’ in the terminology used when speaking to an audience at the National Association of Broadcasters’ annual conference.

Apple said that it hit the milestone some five and a half years after launching version 10 of the professional video editing app. Notably, it said that the pace of adoption was increasing. While the company didn’t provide specific dates, it said that it had taken much less time to grow from 1M to 2M users than it had taken to hit that first million.

The milestone is significant given initial reactions to the app …

Apple completely rewrote Final Cut Pro when it launched version 10, to an initially hostile reception. Jan Ozer of OnlineVideo said that ‘Apple was trying to change the workflows of professionals who knew more about video production than any of the engineers who created the product.’ Hollywood film editor Walter Murch said simply ‘I can’t use this.’

There was even a petition calling for Apple to either revert the software to version 7, or to sell the business.

The furore over the new user interface and removal of what were considered core pro features became so well-known that Conan O’Brien mocked the software on his Conan late night show.

Final Cut Pro creator Randy Ubillos anticipated the reaction, and suggested that Apple give people a free copy of version 7 alongside version 10 so that they had a choice of UI and also time to adapt to the new approach. Apple rejected this idea.

Revisions by Apple, third-party plugins and the simple time it takes to adjust to a new UI eventually saw the app gain widespread acceptance, and it now sits alongside Adobe Premiere as one of the two leading professional non-linear video editing apps.

Final Cut Pro X is a $299 purchase from the Mac App Store. A 30-day free trial is available.

Source: 9TO5MAC