Adobe Revamps Creative Software, Should Apple Be Worried?
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At the company’s MAX 2011 technology conference yesterday, Adobe Systems Incorporated unveiled its new line of touch screen applications and announced an upcoming cloud-based system. The software publishing giant has also recently partnered with WoodWing Software to combine their tablet publishing software and create one, super-group publishing application for tablets. All this, on top of the fact that the company also recently acquired Nitobi Software and its products PhoneGap and PhoneGap Build, makes one wonder what Adobe has up its sleeve and whether Apple needs to watch out.
Yesterday’s announcement of Adobe Touch Apps was big news in the tablet world; Six new touch screen apps specifically designed to allow users to create content from their tablet, plus an upcoming release of Single Edition, an end-to-end workflow which allows developers to create single-issue apps for sale or distribution through the App Store. These content creation applications will be accessible across devices by multiple users through Adobe Creative Cloud.
Creative Cloud is an major new system that Adobe hopes will become the hub for viewing, sharing and syncing of files created by Adobe Touch Apps and Adobe Creative Suite and will include 20GB of cloud storage. The company plans to continuously update the system and by early 2012, hopes to have it fully integrated with major applications and services and incorporate social media. From the press release:
By early 2012, Adobe Creative Cloud is expected to include the following:
- Applications – Access to the portfolio of Adobe Creative Suite tools as well as the six Adobe Touch Apps announced today. The offering will include industry-leading desktop tools such as Photoshop®, InDesign®, Illustrator®, Dreamweaver®, Premiere® Pro, After Effects® and innovative new tools such as Adobe Edge and Muse.
- Services – Key Adobe Digital Publishing Suite technologies, for delivering interactive publications on tablets; a tier of Adobe Business Catalyst, for building and managing websites; and new design services, such as the ability to use cloud-based fonts for website design, via technology acquired by Adobe through its acquisition today of Typekit Inc. (see separate release).
- Community – Capabilities that encourage creatives to present and share their work and ideas with peers around the world and a forum for feedback and inspiration that will foster connections between creative people. Adobe Creative Cloud will become a focal point for anyone creative.
Adobe’s recent partnership with WoodWing Enterprise Publishing is another big move for the company’s future. WoodWing is a major player in the tablet publishing market. The collaboration will benefit both companies since WoodWing will be selling Adobe Digital Publishing Suite right from inside their cross-media publishing system Enterprise and their content management application Content Station.
From WoodWing’s press release:
“We are looking forward to extending our WoodWing partnership beyond their current support for Adobe InDesign by making Adobe Digital Publishing Suite the industry standard for highly designed, interactive tablet publishing on the WoodWing platform,” said Todd Teresi, vice president and general manager of Media Solutions at Adobe. “As thought leaders in the digital publishing renaissance, WoodWing and Adobe will work closely together and with their publishing partners to drive the next wave of innovation in tablet publishing.”
Adobe seems to be getting into as many mobile cookie jars as it can. Its recent acquisition of Nitobi and its products PhoneGap and PhoneGap Build bring the company the capabilities to own an open-source platform for building cross-platform mobile applications using HTML5 and JavaScript. PhoneGap has been used across multiple operating systems, including iOS and Android, to create many applications.
What exactly is Adobe up too? Are they trying to play ball with Apple, or are they gathering their defenses to sneak up behind the biggest tablet seller in the world to try to take them down when they least expect it. It seems like 2012 will be the year of Adobe Systems Incorporated.
