Adobe to make concession to cloud haters

Software vendor 'evaluating additional options' after admitting decision to discontinue perpetual licensing has caused concern

Adobe has hinted that it will scale back its cloud-only push in response to customer criticism.

Last month, Adobe announced it will only bring out new products via the cloud as part of its Creative Cloud (CC) licensing programme. Its latest boxed product, Creative Suite 6 (CS6), will continue to be available to purchase physically but future releases will be cloud-only, it said.

The announcement drew criticism that Adobe is out to "rob small businesses", with concerns that only larger firms could afford to consume its software on a subscription basis. A petition urging the vendor to change its mind rapidly garnered thousands of signatures.

In its Q2 earnings call – a transcript of which can be found here – chief executive Shantanu Narayen hinted that Adobe is ready to make some concessions in the wake of poor customer feedback, although he claimed customer satisfaction rates are generally high.

"Our decision to discontinue perpetual licensing of new versions of our desktop products has caused concern with some customers," he conceded.

"While we will still continue to offer CS6 on a perpetual basis, the feedback from our community is important, and we are evaluating additional options that will help them with the transition. Our goal is to over-deliver on customer expectations, which we believe will make the entire community ultimately embrace CC."

Narayen claimed that the overwhelming majority of customers buying on Adobe.com since the launch of CC had chosen CC over CS6, mainly because CC allows them to try new tools and stay up to date for a monthly fee.

"These benefits are compelling to our existing customer base and are helping us achieve our goal of bringing in new customers," he said.

Although CC subscriptions rose by 221,000 to 700,000 between Q1 and Q2, Adobe's revenue for the quarter – which ended on 31 May – fell 11 per cent annually to $1.01bn (£645m).