Announced for preorder last month, Adobe has started shipping their latest Creative Suite 5.5 software, including packaged, download and subscription options. The company has also taken the wraps off their new turnkey solution, Digital Publishing Suite, for publishing content to the iPad and other tablets.

Adobe has announced the immediate availability of the company’s flagship Creative Suite 5.5 product, first announced for preorder in April. The refreshed bundle of creative software delivers advances in HTML5 and Flash authoring as well as significant innovation in video production and editing, along with new capabilities for digital publishing.

“Adobe is leading the charge for HTML5 authoring with new capabilities in Creative Suite 5.5 that will radically enhance the delivery of HTML content across multiple browsers -- on the desktop, tablets and smartphones,” explains David Wadhwani, senior vice president and general manager for Adobe’s Creative and Interactive Solutions. “For creators of mobile apps on iOS, Android or BlackBerry Tablet OS, our latest Flash tools deliver stunning high-performance apps, without having to start from scratch for every device.”

Adobe Creative Suite 5.5 products are immediately available through Adobe Authorized Resellers, the Adobe Store at www.adobe.com/store in North America and Adobe Direct Sales. Estimated street price for the suites is US$2599 for CS5.5 Master Collection, US$1899 for CS5.5 Design Premium, US$1799 for CS5.5 Web Premium, US$1699 for CS5.5 Production Premium and US$1299 for CS5.5 Design Standard. Upgrade pricing and volume licensing are available.

Tuesday also marks the availability of Adobe’s Digital Publishing Suite Pro Edition, a turnkey solution that includes hosted services and viewer technology to allow a wide spectrum of publishers to publish content on the iPad, Android-based tablets or even the BlackBerry PlayBook in a cost-efficient manner.

“The Professional Edition of Digital Publishing Suite meets the needs of a wide range of publishers looking to capitalize on the large number of readers and consumers embracing tablets and who need an immediate tablet publishing solution,” explains Wadhwani. “While the entertainment aspect of tablet devices is incredibly high, we also know that tablets will have a profound impact on the enterprise. We are starting to see innovative work from companies like Mercedes-Benz to Credit Suisse, who have used our digital publishing tools to create fantastic brand experiences on tablet devices that address real business needs around customer engagement.”

Pricing for the Digital Publishing Suite Pro Edition consists of both a platform and service fee, but it’s not aimed at the low end -- the platform fee is $495 per month with an annual cost of $5,940. The service fee scales based on the total number of issues downloaded per year, from 25,000 to 500,000. More information is available at the Adobe website.

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