Adobe Is Shopping. Who Should It Buy?

Now that Adobe CEO Narayen has said he's interested in tech startups, we have a nice list of suggestions he might want to keep in mind

By Liz Gannes

Adobe Systems' CEO said recently that the multimedia software giant is in the mood to gobble up some technology startups. And in these economic times—Adobe itself laid off 600 employees in December—that sentiment alone is bound to put a smile on entrepreneurs' faces.

"There are small technology companies where you get some great technology and great people…. We will continue to be aggressive at looking at them," Adobe CEO Shantanu Narayen told Reuters at the World Economic Forum in Switzerland last week. "But we're not bottom-feeders; we're looking for interesting companies that are going to help drive the future."

Narayen said prospective buys would be more on the order of interactive publishing startup Scene7 (a 2007 acquisition with an undisclosed price tag) rather than Macromedia (a 2005 acquisition for $3.4 billion). He also mentioned a particular interest in software that can be used on non-PC devices such as mobile phones and game consoles.

O.K., Mr. Narayen. Challenge accepted. We have made you a shopping list. We happen to think Web video initiatives are the most interesting thing you can get involved in, but, hey, we're clearly biased.

We think Adobe should buy:

• A video recommendation company with its eye on living room platforms, like ffwd.

• One of the dynamic video ad insertion tech startups we've been obsessed with lately: ZunaVision, Euclid, or Innovid.

•In the mobile space, how about a mobile browser company like Skyfire or a neato live-streaming service like Qik? It also seems as if Transpera has been doing a great job of tying up the mobile video deployment market.