Adobe 1999 Annual Report Download - page 8

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7
standard for high-performance print-on-demand, direct-to-press, and high-resolution imagesetter printing
systems.
Adobe PrintGear—a printing architecture that redefines the standards for high-throughput, low-cost,
high-quality printing for the small office/home office and small corporate workgroup environments.
For more information on our market segments and information about geographic areas, please refer
to Note 16 of Notes to Consolidated Financial Statements.
COMPETITION
The markets for Adobe products are characterized by intense competition, evolving industry stan-
dards, rapid technology developments, and frequent new product introductions. Our future success will
depend on our ability to enhance our existing products, introduce new products on a timely and cost-
effective basis, meet changing customer needs, extend our core technology into new applications, and
anticipate or respond to emerging standards and other technological changes.
Web Publishing
The Internet market is a constantly evolving and highly volatile market, characterized by rapid
technology developments and frequent new product introductions. The needs of the graphics professional
are rapidly changing to encompass on-line publishing as well as print-based publishing. Adobe’s tools in
this market, including Adobe GoLive, Adobe Photoshop, and Adobe ImageStyler, face significant competi-
tion from companies offering similar products and will continue to face competition from emerging
products and technologies. Some of these competitors include Corel, Jasc Software, Macromedia, and
Microsoft.
The consumer software market, which is focused on digital imaging and Web publishing, is character-
ized by intense competition, price sensitivity, brand awareness, and strength in retail distribution. We face
direct and indirect competition in these markets from a number of companies, including Jasc Software,
MGI Software, and Microsoft. We believe that we compete favorably with our Adobe Photoshop LE and
Adobe PhotoDeluxe products due to consumer awareness of our brand in digital imaging, our strong
relationships with critical original equipment manufacturer (‘‘OEM’’) customers and market influencers,
and our ability to leverage core competencies from our other established products.
The dynamic media market is an increasingly competitive market as professional, enthusiast, and
home users migrate away from analog video tools towards the use of digital camcorders and digital video
production. Adobe After Effects and Adobe Premiere face increased competition from companies such as
Apple Computer, in-sync Corporation, Media 100, MGI Software, Avid, and Ulead Systems. We believe
we compete favorably with our products in these markets due to OEM customer relationships and our
ability to leverage core competencies and integration from our other products which are used by customers
in these markets.
Print Publishing
In the print publishing market, we offer several products including Adobe InDesign, Adobe Page-
Maker, Adobe Illustrator, and Adobe Type Library. We believe these individual products compete
favorably on the basis of features and functionality, large installed base, ease of use, product reliability, and
price and performance characteristics. In addition, the products increasingly work well together, providing
broader functionality and shortening product learning time for the individual who uses multiple applica-
tions to complete a project.
In the technical authoring and publishing market, Adobe FrameMaker products face competition
from large-scale electronic publishing systems developed by several companies, including Interleaf. Partici-
pants in this market compete based on the quality and features of their products, the level of customization