Microsoft Considers Adobe AcquisitionMicrosoft Considers Adobe Acquisition

The CEOs of Microsoft and Adobe got together today to discuss a number of issues, including Apple's growing dominance in the mobile market. In discussing options, one thing that was not taken off the table is an acquisition of Adobe by Microsoft.The New York Times has information that Microsoft CEO Steve Ballmer and Adobe CEO Shantanu Narayen met today for a little over an hour. According to their information, the focus of the discussion was Apple and its dominance of the mobile phone market. Apple turned the mobile phone market on its head in 2007 when it released the first iPhone and Microsoft's Windows Mobile platform virtually vanished from mind share over the next three years. Microsoft is trying to turn the tide with Windows Phone 7, but as of yet, that platform is unlaunched so it would be pure speculation to say whether or not Microsoft will have any success.

While Adobe doesn't directly compete in the mobile phone market, they own Flash, which is a pretty large piece of the desktop market. However, there is no Flash on the iPhone, and if Apple CEO Steve Job's manifesto on Flash is any indication, there won't be for a long time, if ever.

An acquisition by Microsoft would have been unthinkable a decade ago. Back then, the justice department was considering breaking up the software giant, something Judge Thomas Penfield Jackson ordered but was reversed on appeal, being found guilty of misconduct. Today though, Microsoft isn't the giant it was in 2000. Google has grown from a nice search engine to an internet behemoth that also happens to have a very successful mobile phone platform in Android. Apple has also grown from a niche computer maker to a mobile device powerhouse, first by launching the iPod and later the iPhone. The recently released iPad only serves to strengthen Apple's position.

It is doubtful the US government would put up too much of a fuss if the two companies got together. If Microsoft did acquire Adobe, would it matter? While Flash is important, I don't see it being a deciding factor for too many people on what phone they buy, and with HTML5 on the horizon, Flash will have less importance in the coming years. Apple is certainly capable of being defeated on its own battlefield. Android is doing just that. What advantage could Microsoft hope to gain in the mobile device space by such an acquisition?