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Adobe Systems Incorporated (pronounced /əˈdoʊbiː/ ə-DOE-bee) (NASDAQ: ADBE) is an American computer software company headquartered in San Jose, California, USA. The company has historically focused upon the creation of multimedia and creativity software products, with a more-recent foray towards rich Internet application software development.
Adobe was founded in December 1982[3] by John Warnock and Charles Geschke, who established the company after leaving Xerox PARC in order to develop and sell the PostScript page description language. In 1985, Apple Computer licensed PostScript for use in its LaserWriter printers, which helped spark the desktop publishing revolution. The company name Adobe comes from Adobe Creek in Los Altos, California, which ran behind the house of one of the company's founders.[3] Adobe acquired its former competitor, Macromedia, in December 2005, which added newer software products and platforms such as Adobe ColdFusion, Adobe Dreamweaver, Adobe Flash and Adobe Flex to its product portfolio.
As of August 2009, Adobe Systems has 7,564 employees,[3] about 40% of whom work in San Jose. Adobe also has major development operations in Orlando, FL; Seattle, WA; San Francisco, CA; Ottawa, Ontario; Minneapolis, MN; Newton, MA; San Luis Obispo, CA; Hamburg, Germany; Noida, India; Bangalore, India; Bucharest, Romania; Beijing, China.
History
Adobe's first products after PostScript were digital fonts, which they released in a proprietary format called Type 1. Apple subsequently developed a competing standard, TrueType, which provided full scalability and precise control of the pixel pattern created by the font's outlines, and licensed it to Microsoft. Adobe responded by publishing the Type 1 specification and releasing Adobe Type Manager, software that allowed WYSIWYG scaling of Type 1 fonts on screen, like TrueType, although without the precise pixel-level control. But these moves were too late to stop the rise of TrueType. Although Type 1 remained the standard in the graphics/publishing market, TrueType became the standard for business and the average Windows user. In 1996, Adobe and Microsoft announced the OpenType font format, and in 2003 Adobe completed converting its Type 1 font library to OpenType.
In the mid-1980s, Adobe entered the consumer software market with Adobe Illustrator, a vector-based drawing program for the Apple Macintosh. Illustrator, which grew from the firm's in-house font-development software, helped popularize PostScript-enabled laser printers. Unlike MacDraw, then the standard Macintosh vector drawing program, Illustrator described shapes with more flexible Bézier curves, providing unprecedented accuracy. Font rendering in Illustrator, however, was left to the Macintosh's QuickDraw libraries and would not be superseded by a PostScript-like approach until Adobe released Adobe Type Manager.
In 1989, Adobe introduced what was to become its flagship product, a graphics editing program for the Macintosh called Photoshop. Stable and full-featured, Photoshop 1.0 was ably marketed by Adobe and soon dominated the market.[4]
Arguably, one of Adobe's few missteps on the Macintosh platform was their failure to develop their own desktop publishing (DTP) program. Instead, Aldus with PageMaker in 1985 and Quark with QuarkXPress in 1987 gained early leads in the DTP market. Adobe was also slow to address the emerging Windows DTP market. However, Adobe made great strides in that market with release of InDesign and its bundled Creative Suite offering. In a failure to predict the direction of computing, Adobe released a complete version of Illustrator for Steve Jobs' ill-fated NeXT system, but a poorly-produced version for Windows.
Despite these missteps, licensing fees from the PostScript interpreter allowed Adobe to outlast or acquire many of its rivals in the late 1980s and early 1990s. In December 1991, Adobe released Adobe Premiere, which Adobe rebranded to Adobe Premiere Pro in 2003. In 1994, Adobe acquired Aldus and added Adobe PageMaker and Adobe After Effects to its production line later in the year; it also controls the TIFF file format. In 1995, Adobe added Adobe FrameMaker, the long-document DTP application, to its production line after Adobe acquired Frame Technology Corp. In 1999, Adobe introduced Adobe InCopy as a direct competitor to QuarkCopyDesk.[5]
Top competitors
According to Hoovers[6] Adobe's top competitors are:
Company events
1992
1999
2003
- May: Acquired Syntrillium Software, adding Adobe Audition to its product line.
2004
- December: Acquired French company OKYZ S.A., makers of 3D collaboration software. The acquisition added 3D technology and expertise to the Adobe Intelligent Document Platform.
2005
"Formerly Macromedia" logo
- December 12, 2005: Acquired its main rival Macromedia in a stock swap valued at about $3.4 billion adding: Adobe ColdFusion, Adobe Contribute, Adobe Captivate, Adobe Acrobat Connect (formerly Macromedia Breeze), Adobe Director, Adobe Dreamweaver, Adobe Fireworks, Adobe Flash, Macromedia FlashPaper, Adobe Flex, Macromedia FreeHand, Macromedia HomeSite, Macromedia JRun, Adobe Presenter, and Macromedia Authorware to Adobe's production line.[7][8][9]
2007
- January: Released Adobe Photoshop Lightroom to assist photographers in managing digital images and doing post production work. The product was intended as a competitor to Apple's Aperture in the RAW image editing market.
- May 2007: Acquired Scene7, which makes an image processing and display platform used in many retail sites on the web.
- July: Adobe released Adobe Soundbooth. This product was not intended to replace the existing Adobe Audition but merely to provide an environment for professionals not specializing in audio.
- August 3, 2007: announced their plans to discontinue development of Authorware, the “visual authoring tool for creating rich-media e-learning applications for delivery on corporate networks, CD/DVD, and the Web.” Authorware was one of the development tools acquired in the Macromedia/Adobe merger. This was replaced by Adobe Captivate.
- October 2007: Acquired Virtual Ubiquity, with its online word processor, Buzzword.
- November 12, 2007: CEO, Bruce Chizen resigns. Effective December 1, he is to be replaced by Shantanu Narayen, Adobe's current president and Chief Operating Officer. Bruce Chizen is expected to serve out his term on Adobe's Board of Directors, and then continue in a strategic advisory role until the end of Adobe's 2008 fiscal year.
2008
- April: Adobe releases Adobe Media Player. Many videos and tutorials available for entertainment or training.
- 27 April: Adobe discontinues development and sales of its older HTML/web development software, GoLive in favour of Dreamweaver. Adobe offers a discount on Dreamweaver for GoLive users and supports those who still use GoLive with online tutorials and migration assistance.
- 1 June: Adobe launches Acrobat.com, a series of web applications geared for collaborative work.[10]
- Creative Suite 4 which includes Design, Web, Production Premium and Master Collection came out in October 2008 in six configurations at prices from about USD $1,700 to $2,500[11] or by individual application.[12] The Windows version of Photoshop includes 64-bit processing.[12]
- December 3, 2008: Adobe lays off 600 of its employees (8% of the worldwide staff) citing the weak economic environment.
2009
- Creative Suite 4 sales seem to be low.[13]
- August 29 - Adobe announces their acquisition of Business Catalyst.[14]
- September 15 - Adobe announces their acquisition of Omniture.[15]
- November 10 - Adobe announces layoff of 680 employees.[16]
2010
- Adobe announces it is investigating a "coordinated attack" against corporate network systems in China, managed by the company.[17] This same attack was also brought against Google and over 20 other companies.
Corporate leadership
| Executive Board[18] |
| Charles M. Geschke |
Co-Chairman of the Board |
| John E. Warnock |
Co-Chairman of the Board |
| Shantanu Narayen |
President & Chief Executive Officer |
| Karen Cottle |
Senior Vice President, General Counsel, and Corporate Secretary |
| Mark Garrett |
Executive Vice President and Chief Financial Officer |
| Donna Morris |
Senior Vice President, Human Resources |
| Kevin Lynch |
Senior Vice President: Experience & Technology Group, Chief Technology Officer |
Products
Adobe's products include:
Financial information
Adobe Systems entered NASDAQ in 1986. Adobe's 2006 revenues were $2.575 billion USD.[19]
As of February 2007, Adobe's market capitalization was roughly $23 billion USD; as of August 2007, its shares were trading on the NASDAQ for around $40 USD, with a P/E ratio of about 49 and EPS of about $0.82.[19]
As of March 2008, Adobe's market capitalization was roughly $18 billion USD; its shares were trading on the NASDAQ for around $33 USD, with a P/E ratio of about 27 and EPS of about $1.21.[19]
Revenue
2000s
| Fiscal year |
Revenue |
| 2008 |
$3.58 billion [20] |
| 2007 |
$3.158 billion [21] |
| 2006 |
$2.575 billion[22] |
| 2005 |
$1.966 billion[22] |
| 2004 |
$1.667 billion[23] |
| 2003 |
$1.295 billion[24] |
| 2002 |
$1.165 billion[24] |
| 2001 |
$1.230 billion[25] |
| 2000 |
$1.156 billion[26] |
|
1990s
| Fiscal year |
Revenue |
| 1999 |
$1.015 billion[26] |
| 1998 |
$895 million[27] |
| 1997 |
$912 million[27] |
| 1996 |
$787 million[27] |
| 1995 |
$762 million[27] |
| 1994 |
$676 million[27] |
|
Adobe's fiscal years run from December through November. For example, the 2007 fiscal year ended on November 30, 2007.
Awards
Since 1995, Fortune has ranked Adobe as an outstanding place to work. Adobe was rated the fifth-best U.S. company to work for in 2003, sixth in 2004, 31st in 2007, 40th in 2008, and eleventh in 2009.[28] In May 2008, Adobe Systems India was ranked 19th of great places to work in India.[29] In October 2008, Adobe Systems Canada Inc. was named one of "Canada's Top 100 Employers" by Mediacorp Canada Inc., and was featured in Maclean's newsmagazine.[30]
Criticism
Adobe has been criticized[31][32][33] for its pricing practices, with retail prices being as much as twice as high[34] in foreign countries than in the domestic market. In June 2009, Adobe increased its prices in the UK by 10%.[35]
See also
Notes
- ^ Adobe - Company Overview - Hoover's
- ^ a b c d e "Financial Tables". Adobe Systems Investor Relations. http://finance.yahoo.com/q/is?s=ADBE&annual. Retrieved 2009-01-23.
- ^ a b c d "Adobe Fast Facts" (PDF). 2009-03-09. http://www.adobe.com/aboutadobe/pressroom/pdfs/fastfacts.pdf. Retrieved 2009-04-04.
- ^ Hormby, Thomas. "How Adobe's Photoshop Was Born". SiliconUser. http://www.siliconuser.com/?q=node/10. Retrieved June 12, 2007.
- ^ About Adobe - Press Room - For Immediate Release
- ^ Adobe - Company Overview - Hoover's
- ^ Adobe (April 18, 2005). "Adobe to acquire Macromedia". Press release. http://www.adobe.com/aboutadobe/invrelations/adobeandmacromedia.html. Retrieved 2007-03-31.
- ^ Macromedia (April 18, 2005). "ADOBE TO ACQUIRE MACROMEDIA". Press release. http://www.macromedia.com/macromedia/proom/pr/2005/adobe_macromedia.html. Retrieved 2007-03-31.
- ^ Graham, Jefferson (2005-04-18). "Adobe buys Macromedia in $3.4B deal". USA Today. http://www.usatoday.com/money/industries/technology/2005-04-18-adobe-macromedia_x.htm?csp=34. Retrieved 2007-03-31.
- ^ Erik Larson (2008-06-01). "Welcome to Acrobat.com — Work. Together. Anywhere.". Adobe. http://blogs.adobe.com/acom/2008/06/welcome_to_acrobatcom_work_tog_1.html. Retrieved 2008-06-02.
- ^ "Adobe launches Creative Suite 4; Likely to top low expectations". ZDNet (CBS). September 23, 2008. http://blogs.zdnet.com/BTL/?p=10127. Retrieved 2008-09-23.
- ^ a b Carlson, Jeff (September 23, 2008). "Adobe Announces Vast Creative Suite 4". TidBITS. http://db.tidbits.com/article/9782. Retrieved 2008-09-23.
- ^ http://www.menafn.com/qn_news_story.asp?StoryId={71506579-2A79-4443-B4C6-91AFEBB869A9}
- ^ http://www.adobe.com/special/businesscatalyst/
- ^ Adobe to Acquire Omniture
- ^ http://online.wsj.com/article/SB10001424052748704402404574528174100385780.html
- ^ http://www.dailytech.com/Adobe%20Targeted%20by%20Cyber%20Attack%20from%20China/article17387.htm
- ^ http://www.adobe.com/aboutadobe/pressroom/pdfs/fastfacts.pdf
- ^ a b c "Adobe Systems Incorporated Company Profile". Google Finance. http://finance.google.com/finance?q=ADBE.
- ^ Q4 and FY2008 earnings press release
- ^ Macsimum News - Adobe announces record revenue
- ^ a b adobe.com
- ^ adobe.com
- ^ a b Adobe Systems Reports Record Quarterly and Annual Revenue
- ^ adobe.com
- ^ a b adobe.com
- ^ a b c d e adobe.com
- ^ "100 Best Companies to Work For 2009". http://money.cnn.com/magazines/fortune/bestcompanies/2009/full_list/.
- ^ "Best Places to work in India". http://www.greatplacetowork.com/best/list-in.htm.
- ^ "Reasons for Selection, 2009 Canada's Top 100 Employers Competition". http://www.eluta.ca/top-employer-adobe-systems-canada.
- ^ "Photographers take stand against Adobe". http://www.bjp-online.com/public/showPage.html?page=441615.
- ^ "Adobe responds to CS4 pricing criticism". http://news.zdnet.co.uk/software/0,1000000121,39497760,00.htm?r=1.
- ^ "Adobe defends CS4 pricing". http://www.builderau.com.au/news/soa/Adobe-defends-CS4-pricing/0,339028227,339292472,00.htm.
- ^ "Adobe responds to customer protests against perceived unfair pricing.". http://www.creativepro.com/article/creative-suite-pricing-varies-throughout-world.
- ^ http://www.pcpro.co.uk/news/254173/adobe-hikes-uk-prices-by-10.html
References
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