Adobe Says Many Customers Interested in Moving to Apple Platform

Analysis: From an Adobe conference call, Bruce Chizen, CEO, has stated that Adobe's biggest concern going forward is that many of their creative customers are "either looking to move to Apple's new platform, or they have newly moved to Apple's new platform" and that the company's core creative apps run under Rosetta PowerPC emulation on Apple's new Intel computers. This statement is really interesting. Chizen is stating that in terms of the company's performance, this lag is not just a real concern, but their biggest concern. Adobe's Mac customers overall are in excess of 20% but Chizen says it's much much higher for their "creative" customers. In the past we have read that Adobe's creative pro customers accounted for greater than 50% of their users. We believe this number is close and by Chizen's statement, is actually climbing higher. Reference.

Apple Gains by Sony

Analysis: Some may have missed this news from last week where Sony is aligning with Apple in the use of AAC. Apple adopted the open-industry standard and has by far been its main generator in the market. Sony's compatibility means users can rip their CDs to Apple's AAC format using iTunes and then play them on Sony's devices. This in affect will further drive market share for this file format over rivals Windows Media format and MP3. Already Sony's new cool PlayStation Portable uses it as well as Sony Ericsson mobile phones. Advanced Audio Coding (AAC) is part of the international standard MPEG-4 file format standard, of which the QuickTime architecture is vested. Windows WMA is proprietary, AAC is not and does not belong to Apple as some journalist claim. Promoting AAC is good for the promotion of MPEG-4 and thus QuickTime. Reference.

Should Apple have Gone with AMD?

Analysis: An interesting story from late May has come to our attention. AMD is winning market share over Intel. But that's not the news here. The bigger news is that analysts believe AMD will beat Intel with Quad-Core chip performance per watt in 2007 and become the number one provider of those chips by 2009. Hmm? What is Apple to do then? Apple has been plagued with its declining Power Mac line of workstation computers. Yet the company rightly recognizes that its ability to run Windows and Linux at full speed alongside OS X is a key workstation advantage...and a unique one. But the company will still need raw performance. AMD could prove to be a necessary option unless Apple and Intel architect special capabilities into motherboards just for Apple. If history is any guide, Steve Jobs may be tempted at this point to enter secret talks with AMD to hedge Apple's bet on Intel. What's the point of having a workstation line if you aren't going to increase sales of that line? And Apple needs a workstation line to be taken seriously in so many markets that matter to it, chiefly: video editing, music editing, graphics and publishing, web design and development, 3D and motion graphics, and let's not forget the sciences where Apple has been making great strides. Oh, and how about architecture? Yes, there too Apple has been great strides. Reference.

Running Mates for Life? Apple and Nike

Analysis: Apple likely chose the smarter more influential team mate for its athletically-oriented iPod projects. Not only has BusinessWeek made clear that technology, entertainment and athletics is "big game" hunting now for tech companies, but Nike continues to gain over its rivals. A NPR story about the World Cup in Germany noted that Nike, whose historical market position in the world of soccer, has generally seriously lagged chief rival Adidas, is gaining big ground at this year's World Cup. The NPR story noted they were the new official sponsors for World Cup favorite, Brazil. Teaming with the growing player is the smarter move, plain and simple. Reference.