Apple to buy Adobe...? Adobe to Sell Pro Apps...?
Now there's headlines to grab you attention.... Could it be true? It was a rumour masqurading as informed opinion that floated my way recently. Its not a new idea. Over the past 5 years I have heard all manner of Apple take-over / sell-off rumours.
- Apple being bought by Sony
- Apple breaking into two - software and harware
- Apple being bought by Dell
- Apple moving out of selling computers all-together
And of course this isnt the first time the Apple Buying Adobe boat has been floated.
An argument could be made for all of the above - perhaps not a strong or water-tight case, but a case none the less. But Apple buying Adobe? My repsonse. Not bloody likely.
Perhpas what is more likely is that which Bob Cringley floated in his weekly column. That Apple would sell off it's ProApps - FCP, DVDSP, Logic, Motion, Aperture. Apparently Apple have been 'shopping around' for a buyer of late. is there merit to the idea?
Selling off Pro Apps has been on the cards for a long time - a rumour with more probability than most. The reasoning is simple economics - Apple is a
public company and share holders are only interested in what makes big
money. I-phone's i-pods, i-tunes and now, to a growing extent, laptops
make big money. ProApps do not. The running joke for many years has been that
a MAC is a giant dongle for ProApps. :)
If ProApps were availible cross platform would we all bother paying twice as much for a MacPro as for a custom build PC of the extact same components that come form the eact same assembly lines (Intel, Western Digital, nVidia etc)? Sure many love the neat lovely package that is the Mac, its OS and ProApps but in the end its the software not the operating system that the digital media producer has to deal with day to day - if you could run that same software on the same hardware at half the cost could it be considered anything but a no-bainer? It would for a significant part of the digital creative community - perhaps not the diehards but its not the diehards that make business finacial decsions for a production company or a post-house.
That aside, sooner or later the Apple shareholders start asking questions about why their
company is pouring big resources into products that are a VERY small part
of its overall business and a very small share of its income generation.
Selling ProApps off to a company focused on a more dedicated creative market makes a
lot of sense. Apple plays in a big pond and ProApps dont sell in big pond volume like I-phones and I-pods do. ProApps dont make sense for a company focused on the big public pond. But for a dedicated company who only have to compete in a small pond of creative fish, ProApps make a lot of sense.
In any such sell-off Apple of course would retain a share; perhaps even a majority share. that would be the smart move; hive it of to a company who a more singularly focused, keep a big finger in the pie to ensure that the Mac remains the Dongle for ProApps. best of both worlds, reap the same benefits as they crrently do without the development of finacial burden for keeping ProApps competitive.
Posted at 12:00AM May 09, 2008
by Mike Jones in industry comment |
