Details on when and how the return to Mac happened

The CAD-speciality web site Architosh -- long a vanguard of the Mac 2D and 3D design community -- has published an extensive interview with Rob Maguire, the AutoCAD product manager for Mac, who details the motivation behind AutoDesk's return to the Mac platform and how it was accomplished. He also details how the company will partner with Apple for seminars and other design companies to create add-ons and vertical-market supplements to strengthen AutoCAD's position in the Mac market.

The company has already embraced the shifting mobile nature of work by creating iPhone and iPad DWG file viewers, and plans on continuing to extend AutoCAD's functionality for both platforms by taking unique aspects learned from each market and incorporating them. Maguire details how the decision to develop the Shape Manager in-house, and to bring in technology from the Maya team, helped save time in development as well as shape the Mac product.

The company is also offering more training and in-app videos for Mac users, finding them "more self-serving" in terms of educating themselves on the programs than Windows users. Maguire says the company has moved aggressively to bring brand awareness levels up to speed and will continue to "evangelize" the product both to existing Mac users and to clients who either plan to switch to Mac or have expressed interest in doing so.

AutoDesk encountered considerable enthusiasm from early clients for a Mac version, Maguire reveals, although some companies have claimed there is no significant market in Mac CAD, he counters that analysts have estimated the pre-AutoCAD Mac market as being "north of $100 million."

Senior Manager of Corporate Communications Noah Cole added that AutoDesk's long relationship with Apple has definitely gotten stronger through the process. "If you look around Autodesk today you will see a lot of people using Macs. And you will see a lot of people using iPhones. That is a sign of how much things have changed. We have had over 2 million downloads of Autodesk SketchBook for the iPad."

He added that the CEO of the company, Carl Bass, bought two iPads (one for himself and one for his assistant) and "was very excited about it ... the one he took home quickly become coveted by those in his house."

by MacNN Staff