daveybrown

Why Is Adobe’s Creative Solutions Business Slowing?

There shouldn't be a red flag here. The downturn in the Creative Solutions revenue is clearly tied to the product being at the end of its cycle. Boxed software, and especially those products geared towards creatives who want the latest and greatest, typically have a sagging tail at the end of the product cycle as customers who will upgrade already have done so. CS3 has already been out for nearly 18 months. Last year at this time, the product was still within 6 months of its initial release, so this dropoff makes total sense as customers wait for the next version.

Who in their right mind would pay at this point (with CS4 days away) to upgrade to CS3 when that means you'd have to pay again to upgrade to CS4 down the line? Especially when upgrades from earlier versions of CS to CS4 are fully supported.

Why Is Adobe’s Creative Solutions Business Slowing?

It is clear that the downturn is due to the upcoming CS4 launch. Last year at this time, CS3 was still relatively new, and early in the upgrade cycle. Boxed software, especially CS always has a sagging tail at the end of the product cycle. CS3 is almost 18 months old, and with CS4 about to come out (within days) who in their right mind would spend the money to upgrade to CS3, only to have to spend again to upgrade to CS4 in the future, especially when CS1 and CS2 to CS 4 upgrades are supported.

Breaking: Microsoft Announces Future Support For H.264 In Silverlight

adobe has supported h.264 since december of last year so I don't know where MSFT gets off talking about providing "higher" quality. h.264 support will only put them on par with what adobe started providing almost a year ago.

labs.adobe.com/wiki/in...

Will Google, Facebook and Apple Own the Web?

If video is the future of the web, I think Adobe is definitely in prime position to dominate. They own the creation tools (OnLocation, Premiere, After Effects) and the preferred delivery platform (Flash Player, Flash Media Server, Adobe Media Player) to actively steer where the web is going.