Adobe ready for historical launch of Creative Suite 3

Adobe Systems Incorporated announced Tuesday that its popular Creative Suite 3 Production Premium software, a complete integrated post-production solution, will hit stores next month, which the leading graphics and desktop publishing software company believes would be the most significant product launch in the company's 25-year history.

Adobe’s much-anticipated Creative Suite 3 product family will include six all-new configurations of Adobe CS3-Adobe Creative Suite 3 Design Premium and Design Standard editions; Adobe Creative Suite 3 Web Premium and Web Standard editions; and Adobe Creative Suite 3 Production Premium, which covers the full capture-to-delivery workflow with its integrated applications and time-saving utilities.

Some significant additions to Adobe CS3 Production Premium include Adobe OnLocation CS3 for direct-to-disk recording and monitoring, and Adobe Ultra CS3 software for chroma keying, both supporting only Windows-based systems.

With its direct-to-disk recording and monitoring, the new Adobe OnLocation CS3 saves time in the field, offering the ability to shoot with higher quality on site.

The software represent the fullest use of Flash technology to date, and is popular with videographers, graphic designers and artists in print, Web, mobile, and film media. Flash is a software used to give Web sites a slick, animated quality, turning static Web sites into television-like programming.

“With Adobe Creative Suite 3 Production Premium the video editing market just got a whole lot more interesting,” said John Loiacono, senior vice president of Creative Solutions at Adobe. “We’re back on the Mac with a great cross-platform suite that will enable new levels of expressiveness and productivity over multiple mediums. With Flash technology emerging as the standard for mass distribution of video across the Internet, bringing TV shows online, and powering the video capabilities of YouTube and MySpace, our Production suite is at the cutting edge of video and rich media workflows.”

Most of the Creative Suite 3 editions will be compatible with computers running Microsoft Corp.'s Windows XP and new Windows Vista operating systems, and Apple Inc. computers running PowerPC microchips and those using Intel chips.

The upgraded software package embedded with 13 stand-alone products and six versions of the full suite will be sold online and in stores starting in April, with suggested retail prices from $1,599 to $2,499.

Adobe estimates that CS3 Design Premium will sell for $1799, CS3 Web Premium for $1599, while Creative Suite 3 Production Premium will be available for $1699 and CS3 master collection for $2499.

"Our customer is not typically price sensitive," Chief Executive Bruce Chizen said. "The cost of the tool isn't what's critical - it's the productivity and what their output can be. They want to pay for value as long as we deliver innovative features that allow them to be more productive and creative."

Adobe customers will also be able to buy individual upgrades on 13 stand-alone applications, such as Photoshop CS3, Illustrator CS3, Flash CS3 Professional, Dreamweaver CS3, Adobe Premiere Pro CS3, and After Effects CS3.

San Jose-based Adobe's most-used products are the Adobe Reader, for reading PDF document files, and Flash, which is one of the byproducts of Adobe's 2005 acquisition of Web design tools maker Macromedia, and showcases Internet video on sites such as YouTube and Amazon.com.

According to Adobe, more than 98% of all computers are loaded with both signature products.

Of its stand-alone products, the biggest seller is Photoshop, which is used by photographers, film producers and video game designers for special effects and image manipulation, and sells for $649. Adobe sells the consumer version, Photoshop Elements for $99.