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Macromedia unveils new Flash animation products
By Kourosh Karimkhany
SAN FRANCISCO, April 13 (Reuters) - Macromedia Inc. (MACR - news),
expanding its strategy to make more money from Internet-related software products,
will unveil new versions of its Flash animation design program on Tuesday and
announce plans to make Flash an Internet animation standard.
Macromedia, a maker of software for graphic artists and Web page designers, also
said it would make the file format behind its Flash animation software open to other
software companies, to encourage them to base new products on its technology.
The moves could make the San Francisco software company more influential in setting
Internet standards and could generate a significant amount of new revenue, company
executives and analysts said.
These products ''are really good examples of where the company is headed
strategically, which is to play a role in bringing life to the Web,'' Macromedia Chief
Executive Rob Burgess said.
Until about two years ago, Macromedia made almost all its money from selling
computer programs that helped graphic designers illustrate publications or make
multimedia presentations.
In recent months, however, Macromedia has introduced animation and design
programs geared toward people who publish information on the World Wide Web, a
much faster-growing market.
About a third of Macromedia's revenue now comes from Internet-related products,
said Hany Nada, analyst at investment bank Piper Jaffray.
One of the chief products in its Internet drive has been Flash, a computer program that
allows designers to create short animated sequences that can be sent quickly through
computer modems. Fox Broadcasting, for example, uses Flash to animate its ''The
Simpsons'' site.
Macromedia will unveil Flash 3 on Tuesday, a new version that the company says
offers more sophisticated animation.
The company also will introduce Flash Generator, a program that sends ''live'' data --
like stock quotes and charts, weather maps and news headlines -- through the Internet.
Currently, computer users have to request updates manually to get up-to-the-second
information from the Internet.
In perhaps its most significant move, Macromedia will publish the specifications of its
Flash technology on the Internet. It said this will represent the first step in an effort to
get international Internet organizations to accept Flash as an animation standard.
''It allows other companies to do other authoring tools'' based on Flash, said Burgess.
Macromedia, for example, will collaborate with Microsoft Corp. (MSFT - news) to
include Flash in Microsoft products, he said.
Other companies like RealNetworks Inc., @Home Corp. (ATHM - news) and Sun
Microsystems Inc. (SUNW - news) also are expected to announce support for Flash,
Macromedia said.
These moves could give Macromedia an advantage over rivals such as Adobe Systems
Inc. (ADBE - news) in setting Internet graphics advantage, Nada said.
''I think fundamentally Macromedia has the advantage, because its product was
written from scratch for the Web,'' Nada said. ''This could generate significant
revenue for Macromedia if this application for (setting a standard) gets accepted.''
Flash and other Internet products should boost Macromedia's earnings in coming
quarters, Nada said, who expects the stock to rise to the low $20 range within the year
from about $15.44 now.
Macromedia will post a test version of Flash 3 on the Web on Tuesday, the company
said. A final version will ship in May. Flash Generator will follow in the summer,
Burgess said. |
