The internet is a bit like a slightly eccentric relative. It makes a lot of noise and always seems to be around, whether you want it to or not. The latest mad tattle spewed out on the web is an alleged meeting between the CEOs of Adobe and Microsoft and the speculation that this forms part of merger negotiations between the two software giants in an effort to combat Apple in the smartphone market.
Unlike a mad relative and their crazy ideas about tin foil hats and aliens, this rumour deserves to be taken a little more seriously. Microsoft’s software products cover almost every category imaginable – operating systems, servers, office suites, web browsers, databases and games. One of the most noticeable omissions is creative design software – Adobe’s territory.
For a company that depends almost exclusively on Office and Windows for profits, buying Adobe and its extensive range of lucrative creative software to add some diversity and conquer yet another market must be very attractive. Given Microsoft’s size and greater finances it would almost certainly be a purchase of Adobe by Microsoft and not a merger of equals.
However, if Microsoft does buy Adobe, Ballmer and his crew will need to do a better job of integrating and exploiting it than they have compared to other, recent acquisitions. Bungie, despite bringing the lucrative Halo video game franchise to the Xbox 360, has been spun off which potentially allows Bungie’s talent to be exploited by rival console makers once their post-spin off exclusivity agreement ends. The acquisition of smartphone maker Danger has so far brought little benefit to Microsoft, despite the burgeoning smartphone market, apart from an embarrassing loss of customer data and the Kin smartphone which was canned after mere weeks on the American market.
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