Adobe Gets Serious, Literally

Digital Journal — As if its Flash video technology wasn’t expansive enough, featured on sites like YouTube, Adobe Systems announced today it acquired Serious Magic, a manufacturer of video software. The deal, for an undisclosed amount, will strengthen Adobe’s video offerings, while also allowing the company to include Serious Magic technologies in future products. “The purchase of Serious Magic accelerates our vision to make not just video but all dynamic media an even more ubiquitous communications vehicle, whether you’re delivering content for the broadcast market, over the Web or on mobile devices,” said John Loiacono, senior vice-president of Creative Solutions Business Unit at Adobe, in a statement. Serious Magic is best known for Ovation, software designed to enhance PowerPoint presentations. They are also reputable makers of technology that can quickly add video to a blog. Without a doubt, the popularity of the blog-vid technology — we fell in love with Vlog It! years ago in New York during the trade show CeBIT — will only increase worldwide, and Adobe’s marketing arm should give the new partnership an impressive boost. In addition, it will be interesting to see if other video-technology companies jump on the acquisition bandwagon and hunt for deals with powerhouses similar to Adobe. In the short term, though, the Adobe-Serious fellowship could popularize video software ever further through the YouTube generation.