According to TechCrunch, an update to Apple's venerable Final Cut Pro video editing suite is nearing completion and it, as Steve Jobs himself put it late last year, will be awesome. It's so close to complete, in fact, that it should be arriving in Spring 2011. 

How does TechCrunch know that a new FCP is coming soon? Simple: Apple's been asking professional video editors what they think of it:

According our very own people familiar with the matter, a small group of video editors were on the Apple campus recently in order to preview the new version of video editing software, which is in the same space as Avid and Adobe Premier. Apparently Apple is still putting the finishing touches on “the biggest overhaul to Final Cut Pro since the original version was created over 10 years ago”and wanted pro user feedback. Emphasis on “pro.”

One source described the new release as encompassing everything from low level architectural changes to a complete redesign of the user interface. It’s safe to say the newest version will be 64 bit as that’s what users have clamored the most for.

Early scuttlebutt is that this new release is an ambitious new update, which should go a long way to calming those who have worried that Apple's single-minded emphasis on mainstream consumers meant that they'd be eschewing the Pro users. Happily, this doesn't seem to be the case.

Between this, the pending iPad 2 announcement, the inevitable release of the iPhone 5, and not to mention the shortly upcoming MacBook Pro refresh, Apple seems to be again firing on all cylinders and ready to leave the competition in the dust. 

Via TechCrunch