Adobe to acquire Macromedia

April 18, 2005

The announcement was made today of the $3.4 billion take-over of Macromedia by Adobe. I was a bit surprised at how expensive Macromedia was, but then again this is one of the success stories of the Internet age.

�Interestingly enough, these companies have crossed paths of sorts before. Nearly a decade ago, Adobe had a chance and declined to acquire FutureWave, which later on merged with Macromedia and its flagship product, FutureWave, became what is know as Flash today.

�Besides Flash, Macromedia has a full spectrum of Web products to offer Adobe. There's ColdFusion, a mature server-side Web application product, DreamWeaver, a superb Web page design and layout product, and FireWorks, a versatile image creator and editor geared mostly for the Web. It remains to be seen how FireWorks will be positioned against Photoshop which is a competing product from Adobe. It is possible for the two products to merge into one.

�The acquisition, while an expensive venture, will bolster Adobe's presence on the Internet and Web arenas as it jostles for a bigger market share. Is all this activity getting Apple's attention? With the iPod market nearing saturation, Apple could be on the prowl for areas of expansion. Both Adobe and Macromedia have products with Mac roots and almost all of their current products and their Web sites have that special clean and polished look most associated with Apple. One wonders.