PBS’s Robert X. Cringely is reporting that Apple was “quietly shopping around its entire professional application business to prospective buyers at the recently completed National Association of Broadcasters show in Las Vegas. These include Aperture, Final Cut Pro, Logic, and Shake — applications that are hardly also-rans in their segments and none of which are antiquated in the least. Final Cut, of course, absolutely dominates the video editing business.”
Cringely wonders, “Why would Apple want to give that up?”
“Apple’s recent hardware successes have come at the expense of Dell and HP,” Cringely writes. “If that’s the case, then the typical Wall Street drone would say, ‘Why not kill the professional apps, since they seem to no longer even be necessary for Apple’s success?’ In Wall Street’s quarter-to-quarter perspective, selling off Apple’s professional applications makes perfect sense. Except that Steve Jobs tends not to think quarter-to-quarter so much as decade-to-decade. This is a guy with a LONG horizon, which is why he appears, frankly, to be the only one of his peers with either a plan or a clue. As Jobs did with the iPod and iTunes and now with the iPhone, he is setting the standard and most Apple competitors are mainly waiting and reacting, which is hardly a way to lead anything.”
“Apple’s decision to not yet ship systems with Blu-ray drives or even support third-party or external Blu-ray drives in its professional applications has caused consternation in the $4 billion event video industry… This has hurt Mac sales and Final Cut sales, and since Steve Jobs isn’t stupid it is probably deliberate,” Cringley writes.
MacDailyNews Take: Come now, Mark, er… Robert, has it really hurt Mac sales and Final Cut sales? If so, please quantify the “hurt” and do so with something called “proof” (for once).
Cringley continues, “There is only one real reason why Apple would sell off its professional applications and that’s to avoid antitrust problems when/if Apple buys Adobe Systems… While in my opinion the Apple video software is clearly better, Jobs couldn’t be at NAB trying to sell Premiere — software he doesn’t yet own. Maybe there’s a planned bait-and-switch, seeing who is interested in Final Cut then trying to shift them to Premiere.”
More in the full article here.
MacDailyNews Take: We’ve long hoped that Apple would buy Adobe and — drumroll, please — begin phasing out Windows versions of applications a la Shake. You want Photoshop? Get a Mac. Illustrator? Get a Mac. Dreamweaver? You know what to do. It’s time to start driving the stake through Microsoft’s cold, shriveled, black, non-beating heart. Even if Steve doesn’t want to be that ruthless yet, at least Mac users would get much more timely updates from Apple than from Adobe. Unlike Adobe, Apple knows how to use Xcode.
Apple is currently worth $158.52 billion and has nearly $20 billion in cash on hand. Adobe’s current market value is just $21.41 billion. Pull the trigger, Steve!
[UPDATE: 5:31pm EDT: “This rumor is false. Competitors have been trying to spread it around for a few months now. Apple’s Pro business is thriving and it is not for sale. Period. Steve” – Comment posted below in Reader Feedback (stamped May 02, 08 – 05:13 pm) from “Steve Jobs” did indeed come from an Apple Inc. IP address in Cupertino, CA. We’re not saying it is from Mr. Jobs, but it did come from Apple.]
For those who are wondering whether the message above was actually from Steve Jobs, I’ll just point out that if it was anyone else at Apple posting that without authorization, it would be grounds for firing.
So, since it came from the 17 network, I think that comment was in fact from Steve.
-jcr
Ok, first of all, there is ZERO reason for Apple to buy Adobe. Adobe’s catalog is FILLED with tons of niche programs that apple would want nothing to do with. Their premier programs (pardon the pun) are not the type of things Apple would want. They are bloated, convoluted and tend to suffer from bouts of schizophrenia; some programs follow a certain look and feel, others don’t.
Apple already has a better video editing program and really just needs a new animation app that competes directly with After Effects. Motion almost does, but is a bit different and Shake sort of covers the rest.
As for Dreamweaver, I know many like it, but are you telling me Apple couldn’t do better? Try out iWeb, it may not be industrial-strength, but the concept behind it is brilliant. If they could take the basics of iweb and add industrial strength tools and they would have a winner.
Then there’s photoshop. One of my personal favorite programs, but Apple could do better. Imagine photoshop power in an Apple interface, it would be fantastic.
As for Illustrator….puh-leeeeez, this program can do great things, but it sucks to actually use it.
Just in case it was Steve…thanks for the inspiriation, the standard setting, the tastefullness, the class, and for skating to where the puck is gonna be, etc., etc., etc.
So Apple plans to sell its pro applications so that a takeover of Adobe will be less monopolistic? I do not think Apple want Adobe enough to risk losing their pro-app suite.
Iron Man rocks!
Yo Steve !!! … Stop surfing the web NOW and get back to work, or heaven help me I will call up the IT tards’ and get them to revoke your internet privileges.
“Steve Jobs” went from an unregistered poster to a registered one… MDN should reserve that user name for the real Steve Jobs, if the person who posted the second time did not also have an “Apple Inc. IP address in Cupertino, CA.”
What a stupid rumor… Why would Apple sell it all after all the work of acquiring/creating the products and making them successful?
To HELL with Adobe, what a pissed waste of $$ that would be. Adobe is bloated overstuffed “industry standard” crapware. Most if not all of Adobe’s tricks are being done by apps that cost a fraction of the cost, For as much bitching that MDN does about MS, ADOBE sucks just as much. It would be a huge Piss-LOAD of $$. With Core image, animation, quartz foundations there will be loads of apps that do as much or more,,,,,,, Oh yeah don’t forget about the whole “no 64 bit support for quite a while” BS. Stay away from Adobe. MDN talkin just plain stupid on this one.
This narrow minded at short viewing profits mentality is killing intelligence… and he world on it’s way!
Shawing the branch their sitting on will not profit at all at the end!
it is possible to spoof an ip address right?
If not, some OSX ads would be nice Mr. Jobs, otherwise your doing great.
I was at the same show, and I heard that Robert X Cringley was quietly shopping around for the same payments from Microsoft that Enderle gets.
Remember Apple is an mp3 player company that also makes some computers.
True graphics and video production professionals abandoned the Mac platform long ago. So getting rid of niche computer software from the mix makes absolute sense.
This is insane
@Money
Umm… wrong. You’re trolling in the wrong river.
Check the recent earnings report. Desktop and portable Macintosh sales accounted for nearly half the quarter’s earnings, with sales of iPod, other music related products and services (read iTunes), iPhone, other peripherals and software services making up the other half.
iPod sales by thelselves accounted for only 25% of the quarterly income.
Why would Apple want Adobe?
Most of Adobe software is purchased by Windows users. Apple buyers make up a smaller sales share of it´s products.
Apple is a hardware company – computers, ipods, iphones. The software is just addons – and the software for ipods and iphones is free.
Plus the pro market is mature – how many people don´t already own a copy of Photoshop that is good for ever?
‘True graphics and video production professionals abandoned the Mac platform long ago. So getting rid of niche computer software from the mix makes absolute sense.’
That is bullshit, plain and simple. The majority of the people in these fields (and I am one of them) use the Mac. I assure you, we would never even consider using Windows. I don’t know what your field is (I’m guessing you are a designer of some sort), but if what you say is true for you, you are in the minority. Believe it.
LOL.
Since when does Steve Jobs respond to rumors?
LOL.
MDN, u got pwned.
This would be an interesting time to buy Adobe, given their shift into trying to be a platform company with Flex, Flash and AIR. I’m not sure Apple wants another platform, though.
Buy Adobe. Protect from a surprise Adobe purchase by MS.
Cringeley has never had any plausible speculation about Apple for as long as I can remember. Lots of bizarre ideas, but all of them false. I cringe when I just read the name (pardon the pun – couldn’t resist!).
Steve Jobs other uncle: LOL.
Since when does Steve Jobs respond to rumors?
LOL.
MDN, u got pwned.
Possibly, but not necessarily.
Rumours of that kind can cause major movements in the stock market, so squashing them timely can be important before they gain traction.
Although I would normally expect a debunking to go through official channels. Since the rumour emerged at the beginning of the weekend, however (which is suspicious in its own right), other channels may be taken in addition to that.
Would be kind of cool to have The Steve lurking around here, but I guess even so he might have underlings do the lurking for him.
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The underlying similarity of your posts leads me to conclude that you are one person.
I will admit it has been a while, but the last time I saw any legitimate Adobe Windows/Mac overall sales comparison numbers, Mac sales accounted for more of Adobe’s sales than Windows sales. The same studies also indicated Mac users were much less likely to pirate Adobe software.
Even without numbers, there is the little matter of Premier. Why did Adobe bring back Premier to the Mac? The answer to that speaks volumes about Apples influence over Adobe.
Especially considering that Adobe pulled Premier from the Mac market and tried their best (with help from HP) to bury Mac video.
The trouble (for Adobe) was that video pros realized that with Apple they had a choice… and they chose to ignore Abobe rather than Apple.
The underlying similarity of your posts leads me to conclude that you are one person.
I will admit it has been a while, but the last time I saw any legitimate Adobe Windows/Mac overall sales comparison numbers, Mac sales accounted for more of Adobe’s sales than Windows sales. The same studies also indicated Mac users were much less likely to pirate Adobe software.
Even without numbers, there is the little matter of Premier. Why did Adobe bring back Premier to the Mac? The answer to that speaks volumes about Apples influence over Adobe.
Especially considering that Adobe pulled Premier from the Mac market and tried their best (with help from HP) to bury Mac video.
The trouble (for Adobe) was that video pros realized that with Apple they had a choice… and they chose to ignore Abobe rather than Apple.
The underlying similarity of your posts leads me to conclude that you are one person.
I will admit it has been a while, but the last time I saw any legitimate Adobe Windows/Mac overall sales comparison numbers, Mac sales accounted for more of Adobe’s sales than Windows sales. The same studies also indicated Mac users were much less likely to pirate Adobe software.
Even without numbers, there is the little matter of Premier. Why did Adobe bring back Premier to the Mac? The answer to that speaks volumes about Apples influence over Adobe.
Especially considering that Adobe pulled Premier from the Mac market and tried their best (with help from HP) to bury Mac video.
The trouble (for Adobe) was that video pros realized that with Apple they had a choice… and they chose to ignore Abobe rather than Apple.
The underlying similarity of your posts leads me to conclude that you are one person.
I will admit it has been a while, but the last time I saw any legitimate Adobe Windows/Mac overall sales comparison numbers, Mac sales accounted for more of Adobe’s sales than Windows sales. The same studies also indicated Mac users were much less likely to pirate Adobe software.
Even without numbers, there is the little matter of Premier. Why did Adobe bring back Premier to the Mac? The answer to that speaks volumes about Apples influence over Adobe.
Especially considering that Adobe pulled Premier from the Mac market and tried their best (with help from HP) to bury Mac video.
The trouble (for Adobe) was that video pros realized that with Apple they had a choice… and they chose to ignore Abobe rather than Apple.
The underlying similarity of your posts leads me to conclude that you are one person.
I will admit it has been a while, but the last time I saw any legitimate Adobe Windows/Mac overall sales comparison numbers, Mac sales accounted for more of Adobe’s sales than Windows sales. The same studies also indicated Mac users were much less likely to pirate Adobe software.
Even without numbers, there is the little matter of Premier. Why did Adobe bring back Premier to the Mac? The answer to that speaks volumes about Apples influence over Adobe.
Especially considering that Adobe pulled Premier from the Mac market and tried their best (with help from HP) to bury Mac video.
The trouble (for Adobe) was that video pros realized that with Apple they had a choice… and they chose to ignore Abobe rather than Apple.
The underlying similarity of your posts leads me to conclude that you are one person.
I will admit it has been a while, but the last time I saw any legitimate Adobe Windows/Mac overall sales comparison numbers, Mac sales accounted for more of Adobe’s sales than Windows sales. The same studies also indicated Mac users were much less likely to pirate Adobe software.
Even without numbers, there is the little matter of Premier. Why did Adobe bring back Premier to the Mac? The answer to that speaks volumes about Apples influence over Adobe.
Especially considering that Adobe pulled Premier from the Mac market and tried their best (with help from HP) to bury Mac video.
The trouble (for Adobe) was that video pros realized that with Apple they had a choice… and they chose to ignore Abobe rather than Apple.