Adobe announced new pricing plan for future software releases.

Here’s some shocking news: in 2012 you’ll probably pay substantially more for your software. And in 2013, 2014, 2015 . . . you get the picture.

Adobe announced this week that beginning with the CS 6 upgrade in 2012, you’ll have 1 of 2 choices for your software:

1. A monthly subscription to InDesign, Photoshop, Dreamweaver or the other CS applications, or
2. Pay full price for a conventional upgrade (“conventional license” means a CD or download of the software that you install on your computer, the way you’ve been purchasing software for eons), unless you’re only one version behind.

They also revealed their plan to release upgrades every year. Let’s look at your software choices one by one.

New upgrade pricing schedule

Traditionally, Adobe has allowed owners of its Creative Suite software to upgrade at discounted prices for 3 versions back. This policy served us Adobe customers very well over the years because it allowed us to skip an upgrade when features in the new version just weren’t valuable enough for us to warrant upgrading. It saved us a few bucks.
But that policy will change with CS 6, expected to be released in 2012.

Only upgrades from CS 5 and CS 5.5 will have discounted upgrade prices. You’ll have to pay full price to upgrade from CS 4 and earlier.

That's right. If you're still on CS4 or earlier, your next upgrade will be full price, not discounted.

From last week's financial analyst meeting, Adobe stated that it will also increase the frequency of updates to its flagship software programs. Expect an upgrade every year beginning in 2012.

New monthly subscriptions

Many in the industry think Adobe’s change in policy is to push more users to its software via monthly or annual subscriptions. Every month your bank account or credit card will be charged from $35-95 to use either InDesign or the entire creative suite bundle.

Let’s see: for the base CS bundle of software for print designers, that will be $65 x 12 months = $780 per year. For the Design Premium bundle, that will be $95 x 12 months = $1140 per year.

And you still don’t own it. You’ll continue to pay year after year. It’s very similar to renting a home or leasing a car rather than buying. It’s a fine solution for short-term usage, but doesn’t make much “cents” for the long-term.

You can view Adobe’s current subscription pricing plans here: www.adobe.com/products/creativesuite/cssubscription.htmlAnd I bet these prices won’t stay this “affordable” for very long, just like what happened when cable TV first became available.

Your best strategy

Upgrade your CS 4 and older versions of Creative Suite to CS 5.5 soon.

Adobe has a deal for 20% off until December 31, 2011. See their website at www.adobe.com/special/offers.html?promoid=JIAJF.

Adobe has a Black Friday deal of 30% off upgrades from 11/21 until 11/29/2011. Call 800-585-0774 to order. View Adobe's terms.

And plan to upgrade again in 2012 to CS 6.

If you’re a print designer, you need InDesign CS 5.5 to create accessible layouts: it’s the only version with a full suite of tools that create Section 508-compliant PDFs from InDesign layout files.  With CS 5.5, you’ll be positioned to upgrade to CS6 when it’s released in 2012, which you’ll want that upgrade because it’s expected to have more tools for cross-media publishing.

If you’re a government or corporate employee, pass this notice along to your procurement and IT departments. They need to know about these changes in order to plan their annual procurement schedules. Essentially, if you’re a full-time user of an Adobe product, you do not want to miss an upgrade; otherwise Adobe will charge you dearly for that oversight.

To view Adobe’s announcement about their new policies, visit http://blogs.adobe.com/conversations/2011/11/adobe-creative-cloud-and-adobe-creative-suite-new-choices-for-customers.html

Why is Adobe changing their upgrade schedule?

Money and pressure from Wall Street.

Their reasoning becomes clear once you read Adobe's statements from their financial analyst meeting on 11/9/2011:
www.adobe.com/aboutadobe/invrelations/2011_analyst_mtg/2011analystmeeting.html

Adobe's stock price has been anemic for 2 years (down 25% this year) and is currently down 45% since its high in 2007 (4 years ago). Many Wall Street financial analysts currently rate the stock as "neutral" or "hold," which is Wall Street code for "don't buy this stock."

Adobe has several ways to improve its standing with Wall Street:

1. Increase revenue — Increase the frequency of upgrades, increase the cost of upgrades, move customers to a monthly/annual subscription fee plan and increase the subscription price over time.
2. Reduce costs — Remove aging software and technologies from the product line up, lay off workers, and increase outsourced labor.
3. Reduce the pay of top brass.

I doubt they'll do #3, reduce the pay of Adobe's head honchos; hence this week's announcement about the new pricing schedule.

Public outcry

Many industry experts are very vocal about Adobe's pricing changes. Scot Kelby, president of the National Association of Photoshop Professionals, makes a good case on behalf of all Adobe customers, "An Open Letter to Adobe Systems." It's worth reading: www.scottkelby.com/blog/2011/archives/22903

— Bevi Chagnon
Founding Honcho, PubCom
November 2011

Your Comments

These are my comments about Adobe's new pricing plans.

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Contents, this article

• New Adobe pricing schedule.
• New monthly subscriptions.
• Your best strategy.
• Your Comments (on Facebook webpage)
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