Should Microsoft Acquire Adobe?

Microsoft can’t undercut Android on price, and it seems increasingly unlikely that they can beat Android or iPhone in terms of features or experience. They didn’t warrant even a passing reference from Google at I/O. No chance, indeed.

Which leads to John Lovett’s observations on Eric Petersen’s Web Analytics Demystified blog, admittedly pure speculation, but the thoughts well made anbd published by one of the founders of the Web Analytics’ movement and an analyst for whom real-world market performance indicators don’t just mean one thing, they mean everything.

Lovett makes the argument of why an Adobe acquisition by Microsoft would be the kind of groundbreaking industry consolidation that could level the playing field and draw clearer, indeliible lines beyween Microsoft, Apple and Google, lines that are fading dimly and drasticallty to make a compelling Redmond distinction in the new mobile, wireless Webiverse.

Lovett sums it up: “Microsoft has labored [successfully] to own the consumer desktop with its operating system, indispensable productivity tools (MS Office), and not-so-universally, rich media with Silverlight,” writes Petersen. “Not to mention that they’re still working diligently to capture consumers with Bing, MSN and a slew of other services pointed at end users. All this traction across MSFT properties gives them a lofty vantage point from which to monitor consumer behavior across digital channels.

Adding a stack of ubiquitous software for content creation and some world class measurement capabilities may be quite attractive to the Redmond rotund. They’d immediately challenge Apple on a new level of customer intelligence and empower their enterprise customers with a whopping new set of capabilities. Despite the new consumer view to be gained from this possible acquisition, the real benefits are a nicely wrapped enterprise solution complete with: MS servers, a .NET framework, SharePoint, Dynamics CRM, Dynamics ERP, and a kitchen sink of bells, whistles and anything else you might want. Given the opportunity to deliver, measure and manage the customer experience at a really deep and integrated level seems like an appealing bet to me.” – Larry Sivitz, Ed. [24×7]