Is Adobe CC going to plan?

[J.R.]

I've been looking at Adobe CC for some time now - for the past many days I've been using the trial versions and boom, the prices of Adobe CC for the combo of PS and LR have been reduced further in my country (India). The combo is now available for one year for INR 499 - equivalent to US$ 8 per month - much lower than the INR 1,000 per software which was the launch price.

I'm happy with CC as the total cost of upgrading on CC works out substantially lower than going the whole hog on updating the standalone version.

That said, given the huge price cuts, I wonder if the entire CC is going to plan?

My personal take is that Adobe is just lowering prices to get people to buy into the system. I feel the prices will be raised (maybe substantially) once they have sufficient CC subscribers - it will be a bad move for hobbyists like me but then, who knows ...

 

[awinphoto]

J.R., I cant speak for the adobes branch and pricing philosophy in your neck of the woods, but I was concerned about that also when I signed up for the current photoshop plan back in november... From what I could tell, most of the review sites talking about the current pricing structure seemed to all suggest that with adobes wording, it appears that if you sign up for their plan and stay current paying the plan, then your price appears to be locked... However if for whatever reason you cancel your plan, let it lapse, or for whatever reason do not continue your account with adobe, prices likely would be going up in which you would not get this current rate you are seeing now. Of course everything is subject to change, but from everything I saw, that seems to be the overall consensus.

 

[mackguyver]

J.R., I was on the fence for a long time about CC, but fortunately for me, I teach at a university so I'm able to get the "Academic Pricing" which works out to $30 US a month. I primarily use PS, Acrobat, and InDesign, but have downloaded many of the other tools to try out.

If we look at history, Adobe and Macromedia were great competitors and kept prices down for the most part, but when Adobe bought Macromedia, they clearly went after professionals and all but abandoned amateurs and part-timers. This merger was very sad and all but eliminated competition for Adobe. If the government flunkies truly understood the technology, I bet they would have blocked the merger. I used to be a web designer/developer, but Adobe's pricing models and subscriptions priced me out to the point where I couldn't afford their latest tools or the support/training for them.

I suspect they will eventually raise prices, but CC is a grand experiment and in today's economy, I'm not sure how price sensitive their subscribers are in terms of cancelling over even modest increases. Then again, when we look at Netflix's unapologetic price raises a couple of years ago, they took a big hit at first, but were rewarded just a year later by a huge boost in subscribers and a jubilant Wall Street.

My crystal ball is pretty cloudy, but at least the CC model hasn't hampered Adobe's promise to keep innovating and release new features...at least for now. Only time will tell how this all plays out, but I'd love to see a new competitor emerge.

 

[Rienzphotoz]

I've been looking at Adobe CC for some time now - for the past many days I've been using the trial versions and boom, the prices of Adobe CC for the combo of PS and LR have been reduced further in my country (India). The combo is now available for one year for INR 499 - equivalent to US$ 8 per month - much lower than the INR 1,000 per software which was the launch price.

I'm happy with CC as the total cost of upgrading on CC works out substantially lower than going the whole hog on updating the standalone version.

That said, given the huge price cuts, I wonder if the entire CC is going to plan?

My personal take is that Adobe is just lowering prices to get people to buy into the system. I feel the prices will be raised (maybe substantially) once they have sufficient CC subscribers - it will be a bad move for hobbyists like me but then, who knows ...

Hi J.R,

As you know that in a country like ours (India) piracy is a major issue ... outside any railway station in Mumbai you will see pirated software, movies, songs etc are sold for dirt cheap rates ... Adobe loses millions of dollars each year because of this piracy (not to mention the revenue the govt loses out on its taxes). I think it is a wise move by Adobe to reduce the prices in India.
INR 499 a year is really cheap (even a one way taxi ride from Mumbai airport to my former home, in Mumbai, costs more than that), so I'm sure that many of the people, who are used to buying pirated software, would want to convert to this new subscription service, due to the low price ... I am pretty sure the prices will eventually rise, but in my opinion, I do not think the price rise will be significant, because if Adobe subscription rise is significant then people in India, China etc will once again go back to piracy and Adobe will only end up losing money in that market.
Having said that, if I'm not wrong didn't you recently buy the 600mm f/4 IS II or the 300 f/2.8 lens? ... man that is one heck of an expensive lens, so for a classy/posh hobbyist like you, I doubt it'd be a big deal even if they raised the subscription price by ten fold ;D

Edit: I am not sure if any of you have ever been in Mumbai taxis ... they are probably one of the world's oldest models still being used as Taxis ... I used to pay INR 600 from the airport to my former home (in Mumbai) ... the last I've been in one of those taxis was in 2008 ... and here is a pic for your viewing pleasure. ;D

 

[J.R.]

Hi J.R,

As you know that in a country like ours (India) piracy is a major issue ... outside any railway station in Mumbai you will see pirated software, movies, songs etc are sold for dirt cheap rates ... Adobe loses millions of dollars each year because of this piracy (not to mention the revenue the govt loses out on its taxes). I think it is a wise move by Adobe to reduce the prices in India.
INR 499 a year is really cheap (even a one way taxi ride from Mumbai airport to my former home, in Mumbai, costs more than that), so I'm sure that many of the people, who are used to buying pirated software, would want to convert to this new subscription service ... I am pretty sure the prices will eventually rise, but in my opinion, I do not think the price rise will be significant, because if Adobe subscription rise is significant then people in India, China etc will once again go back to piracy and Adobe will only end up losing money in that market.
Having said that, if I'm not wrong didn't you recently buy the 600mm f/4 IS II or the 300 f/2.8 lens? ... man that is one heck of an expensive lens, so for a classy/posh hobbyist like you, I doubt it'd be a big deal if they raised the subscription price by ten fold ;D

Yes, but the 499 price is for each month with a commitment for a year. But it really is OK once you get your head around it.

I agree that piracy is a big issue out here ... I've had people tell that I'm crazy that I actually "buy" software because everyone is so used to pirated software which can be "purchased" from hawkers (I'll post a picture of them soon) at crossroads in even the smallest of towns here. TBH, I've gone down that road previously but ... its been more than 10 years ... NEVER AGAIN!

On the lenses ... I've been saving up for a 600mm but I've changed my plan recently. Now I'm getting the 200-400 f/4 + 1.4x TC in April. I'm a firm believer that versatility comes first and the specialty lens follows later - and also because I read Andy Rouse's blogs.

The 200-400 will be followed with a 600mm prime later this year (unless Canon releases a new 800mm, phew) and that should very well be the end of my lens buying project - I did get a 17mm TSE recently and that needs to be added to my signature

Posh hobbyist ... yeah, I've had that from a a lot of people but then its all been managed with simply changing my spending habits and most of all by not getting a number of things that I wanted to buy, not to mention a new Volkswagen Passat (which I initially wanted and which would have probably cost much more than my cameras and lenses put together).

As always in life, it's all about priorities and the choices you make.

 

[Rienzphotoz]

Hi J.R,

As you know that in a country like ours (India) piracy is a major issue ... outside any railway station in Mumbai you will see pirated software, movies, songs etc are sold for dirt cheap rates ... Adobe loses millions of dollars each year because of this piracy (not to mention the revenue the govt loses out on its taxes). I think it is a wise move by Adobe to reduce the prices in India.
INR 499 a year is really cheap (even a one way taxi ride from Mumbai airport to my former home, in Mumbai, costs more than that), so I'm sure that many of the people, who are used to buying pirated software, would want to convert to this new subscription service ... I am pretty sure the prices will eventually rise, but in my opinion, I do not think the price rise will be significant, because if Adobe subscription rise is significant then people in India, China etc will once again go back to piracy and Adobe will only end up losing money in that market.
Having said that, if I'm not wrong didn't you recently buy the 600mm f/4 IS II or the 300 f/2.8 lens? ... man that is one heck of an expensive lens, so for a classy/posh hobbyist like you, I doubt it'd be a big deal if they raised the subscription price by ten fold ;D

Yes, but the 499 price is for each month with a commitment for a year. But it really is OK once you get your head around it.

I agree that piracy is a big issue out here ... I've had people tell that I'm crazy that I actually "buy" software because everyone is so used to pirated software which can be "purchased" from hawkers (I'll post a picture of them soon) at crossroads in even the smallest of towns here. TBH, I've gone down that road previously but ... its been more than 10 years ... NEVER AGAIN!

On the lenses ... I've been saving up for a 600mm but I've changed my plan recently. Now I'm getting the 200-400 f/4 + 1.4x TC in April. I'm a firm believer that versatility comes first and the specialty lens follows later - and also because I read Andy Rouse's blogs.

The 200-400 will be followed with a 600mm prime later this year (unless Canon releases a new 800mm, phew) and that should very well be the end of my lens buying project - I did get a 17mm TSE recently and that needs to be added to my signature

Posh hobbyist ... yeah, I've had that from a a lot of people but then its all been managed with simply changing my spending habits and most of all by not getting a number of things that I wanted to buy, not to mention a new Volkswagen Passat (which I initially wanted and which would have probably cost much more than my cameras and lenses put together).

As always in life, it's all about priorities and the choices you make.

Ooops, I got my figures wrong ... even since I started working in Qatar several years ago, I keep getting my exchange rates mixed up ... not long ago on a 1 day business trip to Bahrain, I went nuts buying duty free goods thinking they were so darned cheap, only to realise, later on, that 1 Bahraini Dinar = almost 10 Qatari Riyal (approx INR 165 - 170 / US$ 2.75) ... there I was like a proud peacock, thinking that I got some really cool deals, only to feel like a fool that I had spent QAR 2000 (approx INR 34000 / US$ 549) on duty free gift items that were to be given away to friends and colleagues :-[

COOL, that you are getting a 200-400 f/4 and a 600 f/4 8) 8) ... my wife will cut off my ba!!s if I ever think of buying any one of those lenses ... but one day I will take my chances, after all what's life without some risk ;D

 

[cayenne]

Not me, I'm going to hold out for as long as I can.

I just don't agree with renting my software, and basically having Adobe hold my files hostage if I quite paying them rent

If I have some intricate, multi-layer files or templates, they become useless to me with this model if I ever decide to quit paying for life.

I'm hoping, and there seems to be some consensus out there, that Adobe is keeping prices down now and keeps extending these cheap offers, because folks are coming in droves to CC like they expected, and they've really p!ssed off a large segment of the market.

I'm hoping that this doesn't work that well for Adobe, and it fails much like the rental model has not worked well for MS and other companies that have tried it. The rental thing works for some people, but there's no reason they could not also offer the old fashioned purchase perpetual license for it stand alone version too.

Who's to say they'll keep the innovation going forward with no real incentive to prod them into doing so? If you read those EULA's you click through, you'll see that Adobe reserves every right to change the deal at any time and raise rates, which I"m guessing at some point, their stockholders (which is the group a company "really" serves) will demand rates to go up for more revenues.

I bought CS6 production premium suite, and so far, I've not see anything new on the CC versions that are so compelling that I have to change.

I figure I'm good for easily 2-5 more years with what I have and I'll see where the lay of the land is at that point. I'm hoping either Adobe may alter their model more to my liking, or if there are any other products coming out to compete with them, either open source or commercial. I'm seeing movement on both sides of that coin already, so I figure I'll see what happens in the future.

In the meantime, I'm voting with my wallet to NOT pay rent for software, and I encourage all that I can to do the same. It is NOT good for us, the consumer in the long run.

cayenne

 

[mackguyver]

I'm hoping that this doesn't work that well for Adobe, and it fails much like the rental model has not worked well for MS and other companies that have tried it. The rental thing works for some people, but there's no reason they could not also offer the old fashioned purchase perpetual license for it stand alone version too.

In the meantime, I'm voting with my wallet to NOT pay rent for software, and I encourage all that I can to do the same. It is NOT good for us, the consumer in the long run.

cayenne

I agree with you and was bleeping bleep bleep mad when they first announced this, but I caved. I was on CS5 (waiting for CS7) and they have all but stopped supporting it. I didn't see CS6 or honestly CC as compelling upgrades, but Adobe has been very successful in getting people to subscribe and it looks like it's inevitable, just like anti-virus updates. All the same, CS5 is still installed on my computer

 

[joshmurrah]

I'm a "latest version" kind of guy, so while I don't like the idea, it's cheaper to "rent" photoshop for $10 a month, versus a $200 upgrade for each major version.

It grates on me, but Adobe is in a special place where people really can't, as a mass, vote with their dollars... people need the software, and there's no real competition, so they can name their terms... and the commercial customers would prefer to lease anyway, expense-wise.

 

[Rienzphotoz]

I'm a "latest version" kind of guy, so while I don't like the idea, it's cheaper to "rent" photoshop for $10 a month, versus a $200 upgrade for each major version.

It grates on me, but Adobe is in a special place where people really can't, as a mass, vote with their dollars... people need the software, and there's no real competition, so they can name their terms... and the commercial customers would prefer to lease anyway, expense-wise.

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