Within a few days after Adobe (ADBE, Financial) disclosed its earnings on September 16, the company announced the acquisition of privately held Aviary, a developer of mobile SDKs (Software Development Kits) for the delivery of creative apps. With millions of customers aligned to the Aviary’s SDKs and several developers using the platform, this acquisition would accelerate Adobe’s growth in the Creative cloud (CC) line of business. While the company reported lower revenue than expected by analysts, it showed a faster-than-expected adoption of subscription licenses for its CC business during the quarter.
Since the company is witnessing significant growth in this business line – this acquisition is slated to build the ultimate difference, something that would be felt in the coming quarters. How would this buyout create a better Adobe as a company in the long run? What could be the benefits that Adobe will reap in the near future? Let’s dig in to get to the final answer.
Aviary’s creative den
Aviary has an exceptional team and technology platform, as well as expertise to serve a robust developer ecosystem. Its photo-editing technology that allows programmers to embed their own mobile apps or Web apps has been the cynosure to Adobe’s management.
Some of the Aviary tools are actually online services, and that’s an area which several companies have been hugely investing in.
Aviary CEO Tobias Peggs states – “We will continue to support and enhance Aviary's SDK as part of Adobe's broader Creative SDK offering.” While ensuring no interruption to Aviary’s developer community, or its apps’ users, the management plans to add additional components and services for developer to incorporate. Developers would get the ability to save creations to the Creative cloud in Adobe file formats, access Photoshop technology, and connect creativity across devices by using the creative SDKs.
More than 7,000 apps use Aviary technology, exposing it to more than 70 million people who use it each month. Users have used the technology to edit more than 100 billion images.
Adobe growing its strength area
Adobe’s core business is selling software like Photoshop, InDesign, Illustrator, Premiere Pro, and After Effects – in the past two years it has changed the selling mode from the Creative Suite of perpetually licensed software to the Creative cloud subscription plan that costs $50 monthly for the total collection. Adobe has already signed up with 2.8 million subscribers, but it still hopes to expand the business after adopting the photo-editing products from Aviary.
Earlier, the Adobe management said that in October this year, the Creative SDK partners would be disclosed, but the company is taking quick steps to expand the cloud business segment. Thus, the acquisition has been announced though concrete details have not be shared by either management.
As per Adobe’s management this move should be great news for developers because thousands of mobile apps will get the opportunity to become compatible with industry-defining desktop tools like PhotoShop CC, as well as new Creative Cloud services.
Putting all pieces together
Both the companies look focused on joining forces for accelerating their combined efforts to better serve more app developers and more mobile freaks interested to become more creative while interaction on the mobile set. Adobe has made a series of acquisitions in the past to keep its growth pace at a steady level, and this acquisition will also serve as a stitch in time for the company. Let’s check out how the privately held company shapes the cloud future of Adobe in the forthcoming days.
