Adobe's Hindi version, two months away

BANGALORE: Software maker, Adobe will be releasing the Hindi version of its software applications in the next couple of months. "It is beyond the conceptualization stage and is almost in the releasing stage. In another couple of months you should see us releasing the Hindi version," said Bruce Chizen, President and CEO of Adobe Systems Inc.,

Popularly known for its products, Acrobat, Photoshop, PDF among others, the decision to localize the product was driven by the demand of e-governance projects in India. It is also seriously looking at developing other Indian languages apart from Hindi as well. "The government of India uses as lot of our products. To help them service better we are in the process of localising our products for increased usage," added Chizen.

The head honcho of the California based company was disappointed about the piracy rate that was deterring the growth of the company. "Worldwide one out of every four business software released is pirated. Roughly $13 billion worth of business is lost to piracy. This deters our technological advancement, because we are not able to invest more in research and development," stated Chizen.

According to him Japan earns $250 million for Adobe whereas India churns out only $4 million a year, despite being of the same market size. Worse still, China being a larger market contributes only $2.5 million. "If piracy can be curbed, India can contribute $100 million and more, which is its capacity instead of the $4 million," said Chizen. Adobe's global revenue exceeded $1.2 billion last year.

This has not deterred Adobe in investing in India. Having earlier announced an investment of $50 million spread across the next five years in India, Chizen confirmed that it would be well exceeding the earmarked amount. With a headcount of 220 people in its Indian development center at present, the company intends to further its count by another hundred next year.