The Real Reason Why Adobe Wants To Help You Monetize Websites
Saturday, September 19th, 2009So in buying Omniture, Adobe is expanding the scope of what its design software will help you do, deciding that to give you/your client the ability to make money easily from what you create with their software is important.
Via Bloomberg:
Adobe plans to combine its programs that create media and Web sites with Omniture’s technology, Narayen said on the call.
“The inability to monetize media on the Web is a pain point we hear, especially from customers in advertising, media and entertainment industries,” he said.
Fair enough. I think another thing is happening here, though. Makers of design tools see that they are hitting diminishing returns in the quality of new iterations of their design software. I’m not just referring to graphic design. I’ve been a contract designer using large CAD packages like CATIA V3/V4/V5 and Pro/E off and on for 20 years, and I’ve long thought that new versions of their software “suites” added very little significant value. In fact, in many cases new functionality serves to obscure the tools that designers actually use 90% of the time.
It’s clear that these companies need to keep revenue coming in, but their success in making tools that do what they are supposed to do has ironically left many of their customers feeling disinclined to upgrade. It’s not surprising that Adobe is making this purchase in an economic downturn.
Chief Executive Officer Shantanu Narayen is pushing Adobe into new businesses at a time when customers are pulling back on design software purchases. Omniture gives Adobe a steady source of revenue and may mean investors will focus less on periodic upgrades to products such as Adobe Creative Suite, said Michael Olson, a Minneapolis-based analyst with Piper Jaffray & Co.
An addition like this to Adobe’s offerings really is an attempt at qualitative expansion, and despite the stock tanking on the announcement, it seems ambitious and innovative.


