News
Adobe Launching Creative Suite 3
A new version of Adobe Systems Inc.'s Creative Suite software will go on sale
next month, a launch that executives have billed as the most significant in
the company's 25-year history.
The software suite -- which includes well-known programs like Photoshop for
photo editing and Dreamweaver for Web design -- is popular with videographers,
graphic designers and artists in print, Web, mobile and film media.
Creative Suite 3 includes features to further integrate multimedia into Web
sites and cell phones -- a key strategy as Adobe tries to expand from its core
base of artists and designers. Already, its Flash player software is used to
display videos on Google Inc.'s YouTube, News Corp.'s MySpace and other sites.
Adobe will offer six versions of the full suite, with suggested retail prices
from $1,599 to $2,499. Customers will also be able to buy individual upgrades
on 13 stand-alone applications, including Photoshop CS3, Illustrator CS3, Flash
CS3 Professional, Dreamweaver CS3, Adobe Premiere Pro CS3 and After Effects
CS3.
Most of the Creative Suite 3 editions will be available for computers running
Microsoft Corp.'s Windows XP and Vista operating systems, and Apple Inc. computers.
CS3's prices may seem steep compared to other shrink-wrapped software. But
Adobe customers -- particularly graphic and video artists with deep-pocketed
corporate clients -- spend money relatively liberally compared with average
software buyers, Chief Executive Bruce Chizen said.
"Our customer is not typically price sensitive," Chizen said last
week. "The cost of the tool isn't what's critical -- it's the productivity
and what their output can be. They want to pay for value as long as we deliver
innovative features that allow them to be more productive and creative."
San Jose-based Adobe, which was founded in 1982 and acquired Macromedia Inc.
in 2005, is in the midst of launching several major products. Last week, it
began online distribution of the first public alpha version of Apollo, corporate
software for Web developers that is already in use at eBay Inc. and elsewhere.
Shares of Adobe fell 4 cents, to 43.12, in Tuesday morning trading on the Nasdaq
Stock Market.