Adobe ditches boxed software

Jefferson Graham, USA TODAY | USATODAY

LOS ANGELES — Software giant Adobe has ditched the boxed software business.

The company, which makes costly imaging and design programs aimed at pros, including Photoshop, Premiere and InDesign, said Monday that all new versions of its programs would be available via subscription only.

In 2012 Adobe introduced Creative Cloud, a new subscription service to offer its programs to customers via a monthly fee.

The result: some 500,000 now pay from $10 to $50 monthly for access, and Adobe says there's no turning back.

"This has been highly successful for us," says Adobe vice-president Scott Morris.

New editions of Photoshop, InDesign, Premiere and some other 12 flagship Adobe programs that make the core of what was called Creative Suite (CS) 6, will be released June 17, but subscription only. The new monicker: CS is gone and now the new programs will be identified as CC, for Creative Cloud.

Previously, boxed software sold from $600-$1,100, depending on which programs were included in the bundle.

"This model means no upfront costs, and makes our software accessible to more people," says Morris. "You get new features right away, and don't have to wait two years for them. We decided this needed to be our singular focus."

Unlike most cloud programs, users can still access the software offline — but it needs to be connected once a month for verification and updates.

Costs:

New customers pay $49.99 monthly, while owners of CS3 through CS 5 products get it for $29.99 monthly for the first year. The $29.99 pricing is also offered for students and teachers.

For folks who want to pay for just a singular software — like Photoshop without the rest of the suite, it's $20 monthly for new customers, or $10 a month for previous customers.

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