Adobe launches latest creative suite

San Francisco: Adobe Systems Inc., the largest maker of graphics and web-design software, unveiled the biggest product release in its history, weaving together its most popular software into a package called Creative Suite 4.

The software, known as CS4, more tightly integrates Adobe's Macromedia software for creating web graphics and video with its collection of design programs. The updated Creative Suite, which accounts for almost two-thirds of revenue, will go on sale next month, San Jose, California-based Adobe said in a statement.

The software, including Adobe's Photoshop, Illustrator and InDesign programs, lets users add videos to their creations, grab information from the web and work with others via online conferences.

Almost three quarters of customers will upgrade to CS4 within a year after the release, estimates Michael Olson, an analyst with Piper Jaffray & Co. in Minneapolis. "CS4 is the first version where Adobe is adding new features instead of just combining the products," Olson said in an interview.

Creative Suite 4 has 13 applications that can be bought individually, and another 14 programs available only in combination with others, John Loiacono, senior vice president of Adobe's Creative Solutions unit, said in an interview.

Adobe will sell six collections ranging from $1,699 (Dh6,235) to $2,499 (Dh9,171). The company made 59 per cent of revenue from Creative Suite 3 in the first three quarters of this fiscal year, which ends in November.

Adobe will release English-language versions of Creative Suite 4 applications next month. The company will add editions in 18 other languages in the first fiscal quarter, Chief Executive Officer Shantanu Narayen told analysts last week. The effort consumed the equivalent of 1,700 years of work by programmers, he said.