Apple is one of three companies that will benefit from the transition to high-definition video in Europeis post-production facilities, according to Piper Jaffray analyst Gene Munster, who earlier this week attended the International Broadcasting Convention (IBC) in Amsterdam.
His latest research report, a copy of which was obtained by The Mac Observer, explains that he surveyed 15 post-production and 15 broadcast facilities to glean a sense of spending trends for 2006.
On the post-production side, Mr. Munster wrote: "The key takeaway from our survey was that we are still in the first half of the upgrade to HD in the Europe post-production market ... For post-production technology spending, 53% expect to spend the same or more in CY06 [calendar year 2006] vs. CY05." Apple, Avid and Autodesk/Discreet are the top three vendors expected to benefit from that spending, according to the analyst.
In addition, almost 40% of those he surveyed expect that Apple will be the primary beneficiary of their technology spending next year. Mr. Munster noted that Appleis booth was a significant one and was constantly busy during his time at the trade show. He wrote: "We believe that Appleis presence in post-production is relatively stronger in Europe compared to the U.S. because its products are often the choice for prosumers and smaller post-production companies."
Among the broadcast crowd, all but one expects to spend more on technology next year, with Sony and Avid the top two vendors mentioned. Mr. Munster noted that attendance at the show was up 5% versus 2004.