Apple scoops another gong

Apple has picked up a second Emmy, this time for its Final Cut Pro video-editing software.

The Academy of Television Arts and Sciences awarded the company an Emmy last year for its work with FireWire, and Apple also earned a Grammy from the Recording Academy this year (http://www.silicon.com/a50955 ).

In an interview, Apple CEO Steve Jobs credited Final Cut Pro for bringing the quality of a $50,000 editing bay to anyone willing to spend $1,000 for video-editing software.

"It's got this pro quality for under $1,000 that I think is democratising pro video editing," Jobs said.

Apple has also been investing to expand its offerings to video, graphics and music professionals, announcing a slew of acquisitions this year.

In July, the company announced a deal to acquire German audio-software maker Emagic. In June, the company announced deals to acquire technology assets from digital video software makers Prismo Graphics and Silicon Grail. In February, the company acquired Nothing Real, Silicon Grail's chief rival in the digital effects market.

Jobs declined to say where Apple might be headed with the acquisitions, citing the company's long-standing policy not to talk about future products.

"Stay tuned," Jobs said. "We're clearly investing in this marketplace."

Apple disclosed in a regulatory filing this month that it paid $15m for Nothing Real, $30m for Emagic and a total of $21m for three other acquisitions, including Prismo Graphics, Silicon Grail and FireWire chipmaker Zayante.

In addition to being gratified by this second Emmy, Jobs said he is also looking forward to Saturday's release of Mac OS X 10.2, codenamed Jaguar. "I love Jaguar. I think it came out really nice," he said.

Although Microsoft has criticised Apple for not doing enough to get Mac users to upgrade to Mac OS X, Jobs said the transition is going well.

"By the end of this year we are right on track to have 20 per cent of our installed base, or five million people, using Mac OS X in less than two years from its introduction," he said. "As best as we can tell, that's the fastest OS transition on record in our industry. Windows XP will not have 20 per cent of the Windows installed base using it within two years of its introduction.

"When people say it's not going fast enough, I don't know what data they use to back it up," Jobs said.

Ian Fried writes for News.com