Adobe Creative Suite 3 sales 'on fire'

People are taking a serious shine to Adobe Systems' Creative Suite 3.

Creative professionals are buying the most recent version of Adobe's flagship product, released in April, much faster than the previous suite, according to retail data compiled by NPD Group.

Unit volume sales of CS3 after six months were up 87 percent when compared with the first six months of sales of Creative Suite 2, which was released in May 2005. A comparison of dollar sales through U.S. retail outlets and e-commerce sites shows almost the same increase.

(Credit: Adobe)

"This shows that the CS3 launch was an absolute success and Adobe hit one out of the park," said Chris Swenson, an analyst at NPD Data.

He said that the strategy of linking the different products gained through the merger of Adobe and Macromedia is resonating with customers.

"Improved integration means massive time savings for creative professionals and developers, so a lot of people are rushing to get the product," he said. For example, people can take files from photo-editing package Photoshop and work with them in Web-authoring tool Dreamweaver.

Commercial sales of CS3, typically sold directly by Adobe, show a slower adoption rate than retail. The unit volume growth was about 25 percent higher for the first six months of CS3 compared with the first six months of CS2.

"So U.S. commercial sales of CS3 are doing good; U.S. retail sales are on fire," Swenson said.

The rate at which people are buying CS3 is closely watched by financial analysts because it represents a large percentage of Adobe's revenue.

During a meeting with financial analysts and media at Adobe's Max conference earlier this month, company executives acknowledged that CS3 was outpacing CS2 sales in terms of revenue.

In September, Adobe beat analysts' estimates for its third-quarter earnings and raised its full-year forecast.

Of the different editions of Creative Suite 3, NPD's figures show that the Design Premium edition is the best-selling version, accounting for more than 50 percent of retail sales. Adobe's most-expensive option, called Master Collection, accounts for only about 2 percent of retail unit shipments.

The Design Premium edition is most popular, Swenson said, because it includes the most common set of tools designers and developers use: Photoshop, Illustrator, Flash, Dreamweaver, InDesign, and Acrobat 8 Professional.

Sales of CS3 on the Mac make up about 75 percent of sales, consistent with CS2 sales, he added.

[luckymikerocks]

Thank Apple?

I would guess that a considerable number of sales are due to Intel
based Macs. People who otherwise would have been happy sticking
with CS2 have probably upgraded solely for the Universal Binary,
since running large apps in Rosetta, good as it is, is noticeably
lethargic and marginally unstable.

[AdamMoore]

Agreed, somewhat

I imagine Apple has a part to play in it, but again so does the PC. I upgraded my recently purchased CS2 to CS3 and never looked back. The new UI alone has decreased production time, and the smart layers, and the 50,000 other things they've added. It's just a better program.

Everyone I know in my sector of the industry has also upgraded and are happy.

Adobe just did an excellent job with it's application suite again, and it's showing with its sales. Goes to show this program pays for itself, and is worth the price of admission.

[Sabocat]

Intels and Vista and lack of competition. Oh My!

"He said that the strategy of linking the different products
gained through the merger of Adobe and Macromedia is
resonating with customers."

Like it had nothing to do with the fact the CS2 ran like a pig on
an Mac Intel or not at all in Vista. Sales for this product have
been driven by Adobe's sloth in getting software out on time to
match hardware and OS. There was a HUGE pent up demand for
working software when CS3 finally went on sale.

It's not a bad upgrade but the merger with Macromedia gave
people in the graphic industry really not other choice but to buy
up CS3.

[chuchucuhi]

better all around

I think this time everything is intergated a little better and the other properties that they've purchased over the years feel more like part of the family instead of a last minute addition. Adobe really wants to stay on top and is making an effort to do so.