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Adobe brings everything into the cloud - bad brand / PR move

So Adobe is moving its Creative Suite services into the cloud. Programs like Photoshop, Illustrator, Dreamweaver, etc., will now only be available for a monthly subscription fee (ranging from $20-50 a month).

With 12.4 million Adobe users it's not hard to see why Adobe made this move.  Why hit your user base up for a one time fee when you can churn and churn revenue out of them on a monthly basis for the rest of their lives.

The move, however, in my humble opinion, is bad for their brand. I've always held the view that the cloud is a tricky proposition. People like to control their software, which is to say they like to buy it and own it. When you take that away from them and merely offer them 'access' to the software, they tend to not like it.

Can you imagine if Microsoft suddenly started ONLY selling Windows for a subscription fee of five bucks a month? People would be outraged.

Now, some companies can get away with the cloud propositions, but they are almost always the companies who started in the cloud and whose user base were not opposed to that model (obviously, otherwise they never would have started using the services in the first place). Google is the best example of a cloud-based company, but when you think about it most of Google's services are free to use.

Successful cloud services generally offer a free aspect, with pay-for upgrades for those that want them.

I'm hard pressed to think of a pure 'pay-for' cloud service that enjoys massive adoption.

So here's what I predict will happen:

People who want to own their software (which is a lot of folks) will start looking at other software packages. As they do so competitors which have walked in Adobe's shadow will start getting more and more attention. As their products get more coverage, more people will try them. Over time, Adobe's brand will weaken and other brands will strengthen.

I'm sure Adobe's move has dozens of revenue-driven reasons why it makes sense. Unfortunately, from a brand / PR perspective it doesn't make sense and puts their brand at serious risk moving forward.

Could they have done things differently? Of course. The simple answer would have been to offer the 'cloud based' subscription model while also offering the traditional software package. Those who want to pay $20-50 a month versus spending hundreds or thousands on the actual program would do so.

If, over time, the user base moved to the cloud-based service of their own volition, then it becomes easy to simply go with that model only.

But when you cut your user base off from what they are use to (or what they want) and force them to change as YOU see fit, you are putting your brand in danger.

Every company wants to emulate Apple's iTune model, but very few, if any, have done so successfully.

We'll have to wait and see if Adobe pulls this off without destroying its brand. My prediction is that it has made a big, big mistake.

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