Adobe to acquire Omniture. I'm scratching my head on this one. Josh James (Omniture CEO) is surely a sharp guy and will become a VP at Adobe. And Omniture has some great engineering resource here in Utah so that's a great pickup.
Why Adobe needs to make a play in the web analytics market, especially with Google offering free services, I don't know.
I'm confused too. Besides the talent buyout, I'm not seeing where Adobe is going with this. Maybe they are looking to integrate analytics into their products, like Flex? That makes little sense to me. Omniture, on the other hand, is no doubt giddy.
ReplyDeleteI heard Josh James speak once at BYU, and two things he said stuck out to me: One, he said to quit school and get a "real education;" and two was that he expressed his opinion on building a company from the ground up, that there was nothing he rather do. Being SVP at Adobe sounds fantastic ... or not. Going from running the show to reporting to someone seems less exciting. Maybe he's tired.
Whatever the case, it will be interesting to see what Adobe does with Omniture. And maybe James has another idea he's wanting to develop.
ColdFusion 9 (even the current version) has wicked infusion of Flex and Flash that will really bring Omniture to life. I think an Adobe-Omniture package powered by CF and Flex will blow away Google's Urchin hacks. Imagine sharp, fast-rendering Flash charts and graphs, AIR apps providing real time data (no reading logs to know what's happened), powerful event gateway integration, all powered by the most robust ColdFusion app server ever conceived. I just hope I am not thinking bigger than them on this one. I really believe this will be a huge boon to Omniture who does face tough competition from Google's bottomless caufers and another (money-making) feather in Adobe's cap.
ReplyDeleteIt certainly gives Adobe an edge to allow people who create content using their tools to get enhanced analytics if you use Omniture's solution. If the enhanced analytics really add value, then more people will move to Adobe's content creation tools.
ReplyDeleteI think it's a great match!
It would seem that Adobe wants to rule the web in ALL spaces (just like every other large technology company). By controlling the whole channel - Production (creative suite) and Delivery (PDF, Flash, Flex, etc), and providing the tools that allow companies to analyze the data and success of the media, they think they are going to provide a more complete offering.
ReplyDeleteHopefully it won't just be a distraction that keeps them on the path of destroying the quality of their web media production tools.
John
I guess no more entertaining billboards between SLC and Provo.
ReplyDeleteYou don't know? Confused? The vast majority of the media content on the web is on Adobe formats. Visited YouTube lately? Read an eBook or internet document lately? With some of these obvious points it is very clear why Adobe is reaching into web analytics - albeit a very expensive reach at that. Competition is heating up in web formats - Silverlight is an obvious one with its roots in Windows Presentation Foundation (desktop and web on all platforms) and its support for XPS - Adobe feels having a suite of analytics extensions and frameworks to complement the designer's toolbox and media producer and distributor's visibility into usage would make it a competitive difference. Google's a competitor too and as 'free' happy as Google is, Adobe probably felt the need to make this acquisition... What's next? Microsoft to acquire WebTrends? I don't know but I wouldn't be surprised. At the very least, look for an announcement of expanding their partnership.
ReplyDeleteThanks, Steve, for reminding me about those billboards. Always get a chuckle out of the Gore one.
ReplyDeleteSo it seems the argument for the purchase is two-fold: one to make Omniture analytics flex-ified, and two to incorporate analytics into Flex, Flash, etc. I think both arguments are weak based on the fact that Flash is terrible in the SEO/analytics field, is being outpaced by new technology (HTML5 with embeded video and SVG canvases), and is headed for obsolescence.
The "rich interactive web" is increasingly JavaScript-based. JavaScript is built in, Flash isn't. JavaScript is to Flash what Windows is to Amiga. People will build for the dominate audience, and it's going to be an uphill battle for Adobe, analytics or not. You will only be able to use YouTube (and other streaming video sites) so long as a case for Flash. HTML5, advances in JavaScript technology, and better browsers are going to mean less need for a Flash plugin. Take a look at O3D: http://code.google.com/apis/o3d/
The short is that Adobe is worried about its future on the web. They should be.