“When considering what your spreadsheets and documents might look like on the always-on desktop of the future, don’t leave Adobe out of the picture,; Michael Calore reports for Wired.
“The software maker famous for Flash and Photoshop is poised to take the plunge into the lucrative world of office applications. It may sound far-fetched at first, but the stage is set for Adobe to flex its muscle in the office-app arena. The company already has a strong presence in business software with its Acrobat suite of products and interest in its new platform for web-enabled applications that run on the desktop is rising quickly,” Calore reports.
Calore reports, “According to Adobe group manager for platform evangelism, Mike Downey, it wouldn’t be outlandish to predict the company throws its hat into the ring soon. ‘Though we have not yet announced any intentions to move into the office-productivity software market,’ he says, ‘considering we have built this platform that makes it easy to build rich applications that run on both the desktop and the browser, I certainly wouldn’t rule anything like that out.'”
Calore reports, “Microsoft all but owns the space right now — its Office suite consisting of Word, Excel, PowerPoint and Outlook is the die-hard first choice of the corporate world — but Redmond has been slow to react to the growing popularity of web apps and alternatives to its stable of dinosaurs.”
Full article here.
Yet another reason why Apple should buy Adobe – beyond acquiring Photoshop et al. and eliminating Windows support, of course (as Apple did with Shake). 
There’s nothing like a nice hostile takeover to spice up the autumn season.
[UPDATE: 6:30pm EDT: Looks like CNET’s Matt Asay agrees, “The only thing better would be if Adobe, Apple, and OpenOffice could get together. Open source plus two of the most innovative makers of software in the industry…I’m salivating. (In fact, don’t you think that it makes a lot of sense for Apple to acquire Adobe, given the similar corporate mentalities/competencies? Me, too.) …Microsoft should be very concerned.” Full article via CNET News Blog here.]
Not so fast MDN, apple cant even get flash on my damn iPhone, and you want them to buy adobe.
Just another bunch of bloated expensive apps from Adobe.
Umm, sorry MDN, but not even Apple has $24 Billion just lying around to buy up Adobe with.
Maybe Apple could get a sub-prime loan to buy Adobe.
Apple has more than enough oomph to easily take Adobe – if Mr. Jobs wishes.
Apple has more than enough oomph to easily take Adobe – if Mr. Jobs wishes.
Apple has more than enough oomph to easily take Adobe – if Mr. Jobs wishes.
Apple has more than enough oomph to easily take Adobe – if Mr. Jobs wishes.
This is a rare case where I disagree with MDN’s take. Squandering Apple’s billions to purchase Adobe would be contrary to stockholder interest. The only justification for such a move is if they could create more value for their bottom line than other available opportunities. There’s simply no way such a move would pay. And MDN wants to sacrifice profits on the table by going Mac only?
mw: sense – as in, it wouldn’t make any
How much does Apple have “lying around?” There is always a stock deal as well as a combination of cash and stock.
I second Davecc – more “bloatware” is all we would get. Adobe ought to figure out how to create easy to use software before attempting to invade the Office.
Let Adobe and MicroSoft duke it out. Then Apple picks up the pieces. Maybe Apple should help Adobe under the table just to stick it to MS.
Apple can’t even perfect their own software as it is now.
Open Source components of Mac OS X are not being updated on our machines no where nearly fast enough.
So all a hacker has to do is look at the list of Open Source exploits and apply to Mac OS X.
Ok, right, Apple gets all of Adobe’s programmers so it’s another ball game., right? Well if Apple gets into the DP market, they will naturally have to “reinvent” the DP software because Adobe has lost all innovation. So that innovation will of course have to come from Apple software designers.
And they are not doing very well right now as it is.
So why should Apple, a proven innovate software company, even bother to buy the BAGGAGE of Adobe? They certainly don’t need them.
The only reason Apple will have to buy Adobe is to get them out of the competitve market.
M$ will react violently. Also Apple will appear to be even more of a monopoly than it already is.
Remember Apple is a hardware and a software lockin.
With Windows, it’s only a OS lockin. As the OS can be put on any PC machine from many manufactors, including the software.
So is it a good idea for Apple to buy Adobe? No.
It would be a good idea for Apple to produce it’s own DP software.
Apple acquiring Adobe is Redmond-thinking. We’ve had enough of that, I think.
Adobe needs to de-program itself (emotionally, I mean). It’s like the whole market-share issue–nobody needs to “kill” anybody, just learn to play nice and coexist. There’s room enough for all, if the Beastmaster can just be made to sit time-out.
JC,
Learn something – anything – first, before posting.
JC,
Learn something – anything – first, before posting.
JC,
Learn something – anything – first, before posting.
JC,
Learn something – anything – first, before posting.
What do you need Adobe or Apple for when there’s Microsoft Publisher, Microsoft XPS, Microsoft Digital Image Suite and Microsoft Silverlight?
Face it, Adobe and Apple lost; Microsoft won.
Your potential. Our passion.™
“And MDN wants to sacrifice profits on the table by going Mac only?”
Nice fantasy, though. Or clay animation comedy. Pokey could play Chizen.
Apple would get more for it’s money if it invested in supporting the amazing range of OSS that is available for Mac. If they are this good with small donations, imagine what serious money could do.
To buy Adobe would only gain attention on Apple’s strong position and, as said before, it’s OS to hardware lockin.
http://web.mac.com/simon_elliott/iWeb/simon_elliott@mac.com/Software.html
“… if Adobe, Apple, and OpenOffice could get together …”
We’d have the longest ‘chair toss’ on record
BC
“Umm, sorry MDN, but not even Apple has $24 Billion just lying around to buy up Adobe with.”
Well, they only have to buy 51% of Adobe stock..
And, actually, they have more than $10 Billion just lying around
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I’m glad to side with the losers.
At least I’m not stuck on a Dell Dimention running XP playing music on a Rio.
Face it yourself you TROLL:
We have:
The best, most reliable and elegant OS.
The best, most rounded music software, with everything from podcasts to full movies.
The best, easiest to use music player to play all that stuff anywhere.
The best consumer and pro A/V Apps from iPhoto to Shake.
The best security, where spyware, adware, trojans, viruses are virtually unknown.
The best looking, most reliable hardware from the Mini to the MacPro (read Consumer Reports).
The best tech support for when things do go wrong -try taking your 4 year old HP back to BestBuy for support.
Now GET OFF THIS MAC SITE.
Raymond from DC,
Making future versions of just Photoshop alone Mac-only would more than pay for such an acquisition. Think of the Mac sales! Think Different. It’s time for Apple to start playing hardball with Microsoft.