By Colin Barker
Monday, June 18 2007 11:47 AM
URL: http://www.zdnetasia.com/news/software/0,39044164,62022276,00.htm

Adobe has seen a record surge in profits thanks to the upgrade to Acrobat in the second half of 2006. But it has yet to reap the benefits from the launch of Creative Suite 3 in March this year.

In its second-quarter results released last week, Adobe's profits jumped 24 percent while revenue rose by 17 percent, compared with the same quarter last year. The jump in profits, from US$123 million to US$152 million, was a record, the company said.

The results follow sustained criticism of Adobe by many U.K. customers, who have been incensed by the company's pricing of CS3.

Adobe's most comprehensive package, the CS3 Master Collection, costs US$2,499 in the United States, which means it should be available in the United Kingdom for less than £1,300 at current exchange rates. But Adobe prices the Master Collection at £2,313.58 in the United Kingdom--a premium of over £1,000.

Craig Tegel, Adobe's managing director for Northern Europe, tried to justify the premium in an interview earlier this month with ZDNet UK. "The difference between the U.S. and here is that we have multiple languages, multiple countries and we don't have the same economies of scale," he said. "They (U.S. citizens) have one version of the product that is being distributed to everybody. In Europe we have eight languages."

Adobe's chief executive Bruce Chizen said on Thursday the company's second-quarter performance was "dynamite". "What's not to like?" he asked, in an article published by The Associated Press. "Customers seem to like what we're doing."