Adobe Conjures Up Some Serious Magic

By Geoff Duncan Published October 20, 2006

Software giant Adobe has acquired video software developer Serious Magic in a move to expand its video software offerings aimed at both video professionals as well as amateur videographers, home movie makers, and video bloggers. Financial terms of the acquisition were not disclosed.

“The huge momentum behind Flash Video, which is powering everything from online TV shows to YouTube and MySpace, is turbo-charging Adobe’s video business,” said John Loiacono, senior VP of Adobe’s Creative Solutions Business Unit, in a statement. “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.”

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Serious Magic markets DV Rack, a laptop-based direct-to-disk recording system for SD and HD video cameras, as wellk as the presentation program Visual Communicator and the consumer-oriented Vlog It! video blogging package.

Adobe plans to continue selling Serious Magic’s current product line, while integrating Serious Magic’s technology in future versions of Adobe’s own video authoring and editing products like Adobe After Effects and Adobe Premiere Pro.

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Geoff Duncan writes, programs, edits, plays music, and delights in making software misbehave. He's probably the only member…

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