Adobe’s CS5.5 – Content Publishing Update, Subscriptions and Tablets

Adobe normally announces product refreshes once every 2 years or so, but out of the blue comes the Creative Suite 5.5 release, and as the name suggests, it’s a half-step between CS5 and CS6. This is part of a new strategy outlined by Adobe to cover emerging publishing standards between each major release, such as HTML5, EPUB, Flash and the plethora of Mobile Phones and Tablets.

With the rapid proliferation of digital publishing standards around the Internet, eBooks and mobile devices, it can be quite difficult for larger companies to keep on top of things as part of their normal release cycles. In Adobe’s case, a lot can happen in 2 years. So to get around this, a new x.5 release schedule will be maintained for key publishing software in its creative suite, including Flash, InDesign, Dreamweaver, Premier Pro, After Effects, Audition and Media Encoder. Not much has been mentioned regarding any additions to Photoshop and Illustrator – as far as the 5.5 update goes.

The announcement of the CS5.5 release is not that big of a deal compared to an additional notice, that of subscriptions to the various Creative Suites. Much like what Autodesk has done with 3ds Max, Maya, etc, Adobe will be opening up its software to a subscription service. One of the key problems with any key industry software is that of price, Photoshop by itself costs ~$700 and the full Creative Suite Master Collection costs $2,600… that’s a lot of cash to pay up-front. The subscription model means you pay a flat monthly fee based on the products you wish to use.

Photoshop is $35 per month and the Master Collection is $129 per month based on a 12 month contract. Over the course of 2 years (average release cycle for Adobe CS packages), you would end up paying more (about $140 more for Photoshop), but this is a deferred cost, and reduces the total cost of entry quite significantly. It also means that you can ‘rent’ the software for a limited period, such as for contract work where you already own Photoshop, but need access to other Adobe products for a short period without the heavy cost. Overall, a very good move. A secondary effect to this is that it gives Adobe a continuous stream of income, instead of large, one off payments.

The other major development comes in the form of the new Adobe Photoshop Touch SDK. This is a set of APIs that allow mobile devices powered by iOS, Android and Blackberry to interact with Photoshop. This isn’t quite what some may be expecting, such as being able to ‘run’ Photoshop on their Tablets or Mobiles, but it extends the functionality of an existing Photoshop install via the Internet. Three apps have been made available to showcase the new API, including Color Lava, Eazel and Nav. These allow for a touchscreen interface extension to various functions available in Photoshop.

Overall, Adobe has been very busy this last year, extending support to a wider variety of publishing standards and a new SDK for Photoshop, but is all that really worth a completely new version, and thus upgrade cost of existing packages? You’ll have to decide for yourself. Maybe this is why the subscription came out… Hit the source for details.

SAN JOSE, Calif., — April 11, 2011 — Adobe Systems Incorporated (Nasdaq:ADBE) today announced the new Adobe Creative Suite 5.5 product line (see separate releases), enabling designers and developers to target popular and emerging smartphone and tablet platforms, as the revolution in mobile communications fundamentally changes the way content is distributed and consumed. Substantive advances to HTML5, Flash authoring, digital publishing and video tools as well as new capabilities that kick-start the integration of tablets into creative workflows, anchor the new Adobe Creative Suite 5.5 product family.