Imaging 12 - Fujifilm Graphic Systems

W
ith all the iMacs, iPods and
i-everything else that Apple
has been using to grab
attention and win design
awards recently, its customers in the
graphics arts business could be forgiven
for feeling a little ignored lately.
That’s a perception that Apple’s UK
sales director Mark Rogers is keen to
challenge: “With Mac OS X and the new
range of G4 PowerMacs we have our
strongest offering yet for the graphic arts
market,” he claims.
A major goal at Apple these days is
moving its installed base to OS X, the
Unix-based successor to the MacOS 9.
From next year all new Macs will be able
to boot up only in Mac OS X, so sooner or
later we’ll all have to make the move. But
in many people’s minds the advantages of
the new operating system are outweighed
by the lack of a native version of one
critical piece of software, QuarkXPress.
X-appeal
“You can still run QuarkXPress in Mac OS
X’s Classic mode,” says Rogers, “and it
works just the same as always.” But it’s
not the ability to go on doing things as
before that he really wants to talk about,
it’s added benefits of doing them under
Mac OS X that Apple wants us to
understand. Some of the well-documented
strengths of Unix – namely stability and
“WE’RE APPOINTING PEOPLE WHO
ARE RECOGNISED AS EXPERTS IN
THEIR FIELD, SO CUSTOMERS CAN
BE CERTAIN OF THE QUALITY”
the ability to multitask properly– are
brought to the Mac with OS X. “Imagine
how much more work you can get through
a prepress department on a computer that
doesn’t have to be restarted several times
a day,” he comments, “or one which has
the ability to rotate a large image in
Adobe Photoshop in the background while
working on a spread in QuarkXPress.”
Apple’s new Unix power is also
attracting the attention of server and
workflow developers, most of whom had
turned to Windows NT machines to handle
tasks like RIPping, imposition or OPI in
recent years. “Adobe has developed its
CPSI RIP for OS X, which will reach the
market via its OEM customers and Helios
and XiNet have OS X native versions of
key applications already,” Rogers adds.
INDUSTRY VIEW Mark Rogers, Apple Computer
Those working in graphics-intensive
applications such as Photoshop should
also gain an additional performance boost
in Mac OS 10.2 (aka Jaguar) which offloads
CPU work to supported graphics
cards, through its Quartz Extreme technology.
This can achieve between two and
three-and-a-half fold improvements in
various common screen drawing operations,
and frees the CPU for other work.
Then there’s ColorSync, Apple’s keystone
colour management technology.
A founder member of the International
Colour Consortium, Apple developed
ColorSync as an add-on capability to the
old Mac OS, but now it’s an integral part
of OS X, built in at system level. Rogers
also points out Apple’s advantage in
controlling both hardware and software at
this level – “it’s the best quality assurance
you can get for colour management.”
Taking it to the people
Following in the footsteps of the wellattended
Mac OS X seminars held early
this year, Apple is planning to more proactively
market its messages for the
graphic arts world through roadshows and
seminars. Key to these events will be
Apple Solution Experts, carefully vetted
and accredited third parties who can
provide support, training and consultancy
to Apple customers in a range of specialist
areas such as colour calibration,
AppleScript programming, media asset
management and database management.
“We have set the bar high for the
Apple Solution Expert programme,” Rogers
expands. “We’re only appointing people
who are recognised as experts in their
field, so our customers can be very certain
of the quality.”
In addition to these Solution Experts,
Apple is keen to work with other vendors
and resellers to provide the whole package
in a single customer visit: “That way the
customer gets a complete solution, the
reseller adds value and we get a better
understanding of our customers.”
For specialist companies serving the
graphic arts market, the Apple initiative
could add some welcome marketing
muscle. “A lot of these consultancy and
support operations tend to stay focused
within their own customer bases,” says
Rogers. “We hope to provide a catalyst
and a mechanism to help them reach a
broader audience through our marketing
activities; if we can be that link, it makes a
lot of sense.” ■
Imaging 12 autumn 2002 21