No this is not a news headline. Apple has not announced it will buy Adobe nor is a rumor on the march through Wall Street or Silicone Valley. It is the prediction of Robert X. Cringely (not the Robert Cringeley that writes for InfoWorld), a computer industry pundit for 20 years. Cringely always has interesting insight on the tech world. Key graph:
“Of course content creation has been the heart of Apple’s business ever since the original LaserWriter and the invention of desktop publishing, so this is nothing new. What IS new, however, is Apple’s role in content distribution as well. QuickTime enabled Apple to be in the video creation business but iTunes put Apple in the potentially much larger video distribution business. This shift from creation to distribution is vital to understanding Apple’s current strategy and involves a counterintuitive feedback loop to those professional applications. Where Final Cut Pro was useful to Apple as a driver of hardware sales, it is now becoming MORE useful as a driver of content to be distributed through iTunes.”
Also:
Acquiring Adobe would make Apple much more of a cross-platform company. The combined professional applications could be placed in the Adobe division of Apple where they could go up in price for some markets, becoming VASTLY more profitable. But most important — keeping in mind the whole purpose here is driving content distribution — merging Flash and QuickTime would make any other video standards (like Windows Media) simply immaterial.
Besides Apple and Adobe, there is also fascinating analysis on the relationship between Apple and Google. Read the whole thing.
