ShantanuNarayen
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Adobe CEO clumsily dodges pricing questions in YouTube 'farce' (video)
If Adobe has any love whatsoever for its non-US customers, it's not great at showing it. The video after the break reveals CEO Shantanu Narayen evading the genuine questions of a Delimiter journalist at a press conference in Sydney. The reporter wanted to know why Adobe's Creative Suite is priced $1,400 higher in Australia than in America, reflecting a geographic disparity that has long vexed Australian customers and lawmakers alike. But instead of answering, Narayen reverted to type and sought to shrug the journalist off with some marketing spiel about an entirely different product -- Creative Cloud -- ultimately leading Delimiter to condemn the whole episode as a "farce." If we understand Narayen right, he seems to be implying that Australian customers are being charged a high price for traditional boxed software in order to nudge them towards Adobe's subscription-based cloud service instead. Given that the Creative Cloud was itself hugely overpriced in Australia until a sudden and awkward u-turn just a couple of days ago, that sort of argument is hardly likely to win back much affection. However, this older Narayen clip actually might.
Adobe's CEO trains to become The Most Interesting Man in the World (video)
Could Adobe CEO Shantanu Narayen seriously go toe to toe with the Dos Equis guy? Don't laugh... well, until you watch his training video just after the break. Something tells us he's got quite a few lessons to go before getting the Ari Gold seal of approval.
Adobe CEO Shantanu Narayen confirms unofficial armistice with Jobs, Apple
Adobe CEO Shantanu Narayen told Walt Mossberg during an interview that the dispute between Adobe and Apple over Flash is a thing of the past. Adobe and Steve Jobs went head to head last year when the Apple CEO publicly criticized the multimedia company and banned apps that were created using third-party tools, like Adobe Flash. The heated exchange was covered extensively by the press. It took several months, but the dispute was finally resolved when Apple reversed its decision on third-party compilers and now lets developers use them to create apps. Though the press continues to bring up this dispute, it's unofficially over as far as Narayen is concerned. Narayen also confirmed that Adobe is supportive of HTML 5, the standard Apple has chosen for web video and multimedia on the iPad and iPhone. "We welcome the evolution to HTML5, and are actively contributing to it." says Narayen. This is good news to iOS owners who won't have to worry about Flash draining their batteries and slowing their browsers to a crawl.
Adobe CEO has no beef with Apple, no answer for poor Flash performance on Android (video)
The Adobe-Apple Flash war used to be one of the juiciest catfights around, but, much like two aging boxers, both sides now appear willing to act like adults put it all behind them. Speaking at yesterday's D9 conference in Palos Verdes, California, Adobe head Shantanu Narayen confirmed that he and Steve Jobs have reached an unofficial armistice, bringing an end to their prolonged war of words. According to the CEO, Apple's Flash issues stemmed from the company's "business model," rather than any legitimate concerns over quality. "It's control over the app store that's at issue here," Narayen said, implying that Flash's wide-ranging platform compatibility may not have jibed with the Cupertino ethos. He went on to remind moderator Walt Mossberg that developers can still use Adobe's AIR software to get their products to the App Store, adding that his company is looking forward to the rise of HTML5 and "actively contributing" to its development. Mossberg, meanwhile, seemed to blindside Narayen when he brought up Flash's poor performance on Android devices. "I have yet to test a single one where Flash tests really well," the columnist claimed. "I'm sorry, but it's true." Narayen sputtered a bit, before pointing to the BlackBerry PlayBook as an example of the progress that Flash has made. When Mossberg reminded him that the PlayBook doesn't run on Android, the CEO not-so-subtly sidestepped the question by emptily declaring that Adobe's mission is simply to provide people with the best tools to create content. Apparently satisfied with this non-answer, Mossberg changed the subject back to Apple, allowing Narayen to wax poetic about their new Pax Romana -- and, perhaps, to breathe a sigh of relief. See the full interview after the break.
NVIDIA talks up the beginning of a new era, Tegra 2 'super phones'
NVIDIA's press conference at CES has just concluded and we were on site to hear what Jen-Hsun Huang and company had to say to the world. The Green Team's CEO wasn't timid in talking up the revolutionary nature of this year's CES, describing it as the harbinger of a change on a par with what we experienced way back in 1995 with the introduction of Windows 95. Unsurprisingly, Huang's vision of how we're going to leap into our ultra-modern new era involves NVIDIA's Tegra 2 hardware, a chip which is "less than the size of a dime and can leap tall buildings." Jen-Hsun sees the future of mobile computing in devices that move beyond phones with enhanced capabilities, or smartphones, to an entirely new category: "a computer first and a phone second." Tegra 2 announcements will be "sprinkled throughout the week," but the LG Optimus 2X did get a proper announcement and demo, including a quick game of Angry Birds with the phone hooked up to a HDTV via HDMI and the feed also being played on the giant projector screen alongside that. Biggest game of Angry Birds ever? Probably. %Gallery-112766% NVIDIA's calling these new machines super phones, not an entirely new or innovative name, but it conveys the point rather well. A highlight quote was also provided from LG's VP who joined Jen-Hsun on stage -- he described the motivation for putting the Optimus 2X and its internals together as "beauty outside, but monster inside." Adobe's Shantanu Narayen also hit the stage, to talk Flash. Just to thwart any misguided expectations of the rich web media format's oncoming demise, Shantanu told us that Flash Player 10.1 had the fastest adoption rate of any version in the software's history. A cool 120 petabytes of video was streamed last month, says the Adobe President and CEO, with the implication being that the vast majority of that came through Adobe's pervasive format. The Unreal Engine 3-based Dungeon Defenders also got a demo, neatly illustrating Jen-Hsun's point about Tegra 2 offering "console-like gaming." The game was shown playing on a PC, a PS3, and an Optimus 2X. All three had smooth frame rates, shockingly enough, but the a significant quote from the developer was that his team "didn't have to scale anything back" when porting the code to Android. NVIDIA closed the event on the bombshell that it's working on Project Denver, a high performance ARM CPU intended to challenge Intel and AMD in the personal computer and supercomputer realms. Somebody's playing for keeps! %Gallery-112765%
CEOs discuss Apple at Web 2.0 Summit
While the Web 2.0 Summit was under way from Nov. 15 through Nov. 17, there were a few inevitable pot shots at Apple from attending chief executive officers. This isn't really a surprise with the ongoing growth of Apple and Apple's overall value, but it's definitely interesting to see what those CEOs felt needed to be said. Shantanu Narayen is the CEO of Adobe Systems, and he told the Web 2.0 Summit audience that "there's a war happening for developers, there's a war to get the best applications for a particular platform." Narayen considered the conflict between Apple and Adobe to be an issue of control and that the two companies are on different sides of that line. When asked to define how Narayen saw the two sides of the conflict, he was willing to explain. "Apple would like to keep [the web ecosystem] closed and proprietary," claimed the Adobe CEO. Narayen opined that Apple wants to "ensure that applications created for the iDevices only work on the iDevices if they're native applications." By contrast, Narayen claimed that Adobe would prefer to create content across all the web and mobile platforms. As if that weren't enough, Narayen's finished off that depiction by declaring, "Let the games begin!" Jim Balsillie, who is a co-CEO of Research in Motion, was a little more direct when comparing Apple's iOS devices to the Blackberry. In a soundbite that's likely to be heard around the world, Balsillie said that users "don't need an app for the web." He claimed that RIM's upcoming tablet, the PlayBook, would be up to four times faster for browsing than the iPad. Balsillie felt that the "appification" of the web shouldn't be necessary and that websites shouldn't need to convert to some kind of mobile version to be accessed. Even more importantly, Balsillie predicted later in his Web 2.0 Summit discussion that the "appification" would soon be reversed, and that the era of the app would be passing soon. Check out the videos for yourself in the second half of this post. [via TechCrunch and The Telegraph]
Microsoft and Adobe CEOs meet, purportedly plan world domination
Like any two technology behemoths, Adobe and Microsoft have certainly had their ups and downs. But now that Google and Apple are looming over them in a number of ways, it seems as if the two may be courting one another in order to help re-level the playing field. According to a New York Times report -- which was crafted after collecting reports from "employees and consultants to the companies who were involved in the discussions that took place" -- Microsoft CEO Steve Ballmer and Adobe CEO Shantanu Narayen recently met at the latter's headquarters for a closed-door meeting. Purportedly, the meeting went on for over an hour and covered a variety of topics, with one of 'em being Apple and its newfound dominance in the mobile market. Shockingly enough, a "possible acquisition of Adobe by Microsoft were among the options" of stopping the skyrocketing growth. The report accurately notes that such a deal makes entirely more sense now that Redmond isn't exactly the 800 pound gorilla that it was before Android and iOS hit the mainstream, though details beyond these assumptions were few and far betwixt. Whatever happens, no one can blame Steve Jobs for not giving Adobe every possible reason to hit Apple with everything it's got -- even if that involves buddying up with Ballmer and co.
Adobe's CEO: 'we've moved on' from Apple's argument, and Flash still rules
You can only humor someone for so long, and it seems as if Adobe is at its breaking point with Apple. Just three months after publishing a new ad campaign that sought to ease the tension between the two mega-corps, Adobe's CEO has been quoted as saying that his company has "moved on" from the whole ordeal. On one hand, we're glad to see Adobe focusing its resources on optimizing Flash for the myriad Android 2.2 devices that'll support its mobile player in the months to come, but on the other, it's a bit depressing to see Shantanu Narayen essentially give up hope that Jobs and Company will ever come to their senses. For example, have a listen at this, with "they" most certainly referring to Apple: "They've chosen to keep their system closed and we'd rather work with partners who are interested in working with us. We believe in open systems. We believe in the power of the internet and in customers making choices and I think a lot of the controversy was about their decision at that point. They've made their choice. We've made ours and we've moved on." Something tells us the FTC won't be so quick to follow suit. Oh, and if you're wondering how Adobe could just turn the other cheek here, the company's Anup Murarka just said at the Flash / Android event ongoing in San Francisco that Adobe has "relationships with 19 of the top 20 mobile manufacturers in the world." One is the loneliest number, or so we hear.
Adobe CEO reponds to Steve's Flash rant
Just hours after Apple posted Steve Jobs's explanation of why Flash isn't supported on the iPhone, iPod touch or iPad, Adobe CEO Shantanu Narayen responded. The Wall Street Journal live-blogged their exclusive interview with Narayen at 2:35 PM Eastern. Here are some of the highlights. Narayen began by reinforcing Adobe's belief in open content, noting that the Creative Suite apps were designed to work on multiple platforms, and notes that Adobe "certainly" will be shipping on the latest version of Android. He goes on to call Steve's essay "a smokescreen," noting that more than 100 apps are currently in the App Store used Adobe's software. In response to Steve's assertion that "...Flash is the number one reason Macs crash," Narayen said that, if Adobe does crash a Mac, it's probably got something "to do with the Apple operating system." He goes on to warn developers that Apple's restrictiveness will make their work "cumbersome," saying that they'll need to manage two workflows: One for Apple and one for everything else. In fact, he asks WSJ writer Alan Murray if the Journal would want two separate development processes when creating content. Mr. Murray responded that it would be "...better if you could use one set" of tools. Finally, Narayen insists that Apple's adherence to a single platform is a detriment. He concludes that Adobe's concept is best for most developers, as it allows them to distribute apps out to many places rather than forcing them to pick one. And for the record, Narayen uses a Google Nexus One and considers the iPad "a good first-generation device."
Adobe's CEO: Jobs' Flash letter is a 'smokescreen' for 'cumbersome' restrictions (update: video)
There's no official transcript yet, but the Wall Street Journal just live-blogged an interview with Adobe CEO Shantanu Narayen, in which he responded to the Steve Jobs "Thoughts on Flash" letter posted this morning. Substantively, Narayen didn't offer much we haven't heard Adobe say before, but his frustration with Apple is palpable even in summary form: he called Jobs' points a "smokescreen," said Flash is an "open specification," and further said Apple's restrictions are "cumbersome" to developers and have "nothing to do with technology." What's more, he also said Jobs' claims about Flash affecting battery life are "patently false," and suggested that any Flash-related crashes on OS X have more to do with Apple's operating system than Adobe's software. Perhaps most importantly, Narayen reiterated that Adobe is fundamentally about making it easier for devs to write multiplatform tools -- a stance Jobs specifically took issue with in his letter, saying multiplatform tools lead to bad user experiences. Apple and Adobe and the rest of us can argue about battery life and performance all night, but that's clearly the central philosophical difference between these two companies, and we doubt it's ever going to change. That is, unless Adobe absolutely kills it with Flash 10.1 on Android 2.2 -- and given our experiences with Flash on smartphones and netbooks thus far, we'll be honest when we say that's going to be a major challenge. We'll link over to the full transcript when it goes up, but for now, hit the source link for the liveblog. Update: We've now embedded video of the interview for you after the break. Much better than a transcript, don't you think?
Adobe says no delays to Flash 10.1, CEO was just talking hardware
In a communication with Phone Scoop, Adobe has tidied up the meaning of its CEO's words from a recent interview with Fox Business. In it, Shantanu Narayen repeatedly tells us to expect new Android, WebOS and BlackBerry devices with integrated Flash compatibility during the second half of 2010, but Adobe has now explained that he didn't mean that the Flash delivery schedule will be delayed, not at all. You see, Narayen was talking about hardware coming out in the second half, but Flash 10.1 itself will still be arriving "to first mobile platforms including Android ... before the end of the first half of 2010." Interesting that only Android is mentioned explicitly, but at least this provides some reassurance to any fretting Flash fans out there.
Adobe CEO: Flash coming to Android, WebOS and BlackBerry 'smartphones and tablets' in 2H 2010
This week Adobe released version 5 of its Creative Suite software compilation. CEO Shantanu Narayen has naturally hit the interview trail to promote his company's wares, but the biggest news from him is actually a delay of sorts. We'd previously heard that Android, WebOS and BlackBerry versions of Flash 10.1 would be available in the first half of 2010, but Adobe's chief now places delivery to those platforms in the second half of the year. At least consolation may be found in his teasing of new Flash-enabled tablets -- most likely to be running Android or Chrome OS -- which we're told to expect to see within the same time frame. As to the question of Apple's holdout from Flash nirvana, Narayen describes it as a business rather than technology decision, which "hurts consumers" and will ultimately be judged by people voting "for the experience that they want through their wallet." Can't really argue with that. Skip past the break for the full interview. Update: The blog of Adobe's Lee Brimelow gives us a likely reason for the delay: Flash Player 10.1 for Android has just entered private beta, as has AIR 2.0, with public betas on the way. Devs can sign up to be notified about both right here.
