ACROSS THE APPLE UNIVERSE
Second Time's the Charm for a Company That Wouldn't Quit

In late 2001, All4DVD.com owner Adrian Ramseier was one of the first to market with what he thought was a pretty good product: an external DVD recorder for Macintosh systems.

Then, the Sept. 11, 2001, terrorist attacks occurred, wiping out demand for the tiny company's product.

"The business literally disappeared overnight," Ramseier, a 43-year-old native of Lucerne, Switzerland, told MacNewsWorld.

The Irvine, Calif.-based company, just two years old at the time, was forced to shift gears in order to survive the economic downturn that followed the attacks. All4DVD abandoned the hardware business and focused instead on providing training and seminars for those who use Apple (Nasdaq: AAPL) and Adobe (Nasdaq: ADBE) multimedia systems.

Today, it has five employees and 10 contractors. It brought in US$600,000 in revenue in 2008, up 10 percent over 2007. Ramseier said the company is profitable.

The Apple Ecosystem

All4DVD focuses on teaching people how to use Apple's large suite of multimedia software -- applications such as Final Cut Pro, Motion, DVD Studio Pro and Soundtrack Pro. The company also teaches courses in Adobe Flash, Photoshop and Premiere.

However, it's the Apple applications that are the big driver at All4DVD.

"We teach every single application from the Apple Pro suite," Ramseier said. "We're part of the effort for building an Apple ecosystem -- it's a system where everything integrates. That's an advantage Apple has over the rest of the video-editing world."

Another advantage All4DVD has is the comprehensive certification program that's been in place for years.

"Another thing important to the Apple ecosystem is the Apple training program," Ramseier said. "Once students are certified, Apple promotes that on its own Web site, so you can get your name out there. That makes it easier for certified students to get hired by other companies."

Growth Trajectory

Once All4DVD was chosen as a "Gold Level" training center by Apple, Ramseier started to see a great deal of repeat customers coming to the company to continue their professional development on Apple multimedia systems.

The company moved into a state-of-the-art, 2,500-square-foot location last year with a main training room that accommodates up to 20 students and a smaller room for more intimate class sizes. In general, All4DVD classes have about six students.

The new location has a high-definition projector and all the latest equipment from Apple -- including upgraded iMacs and Mac Pros and high-definition monitors.

In an effort to diversify its instructional business, All4DVD released its first training and seminar video last year and is just about to release new titles this year.

"This helps us reach out to people who can't come to our training location here," Ramseier said.

All4DVD also does a little bit of production work on the side with DVDs, Blu-ray and motion video.

As Ramseier learned in the wake of Sept. 11, offering a wide range of products and services is important to a small business -- especially when an economic meltdown suddenly occurs.

"I expect 2009 will be a little tougher than 2008," he said. "I think business will probably be flat."