Andrew Odri

This is the title of one of Grant Skinner’s sessions this year at MAX.

I’ve been wondering what exactly is Adobe’s business plan regarding AIR (they are admittedly a little light on the details and heavy on the buzzwords). They have been pumping so much time and money into promoting this technology, and the pay off, at least from my perspective, seems pretty minimal for them at this point.

I wonder if it’s small puzzle piece in a bigger plan, and I just don’t see the whole picture. Maybe they are taking a page out of Google’s book – create a super cool technology, get everyone using it, then work out how to make money off it later. Or maybe it’s supposed to bring Flex Builder into the desktop application IDE market, and take some of Microsoft’s and Borland’s entry level desktop application market share. I would love to know…

I think it’s good to see the money making potential of AIR starting to be addressed though, even if it is from a third party perspective. If Adobe started addressing this from there own perspective, I do think it would build a lot of confidence in AIR technology, and boost its corporate usage. Decision makers would like to know that it is here to stay, and a real business strategy would do that.

Anyway, make sure you check out all of the cool sessions lined up for MAX this year. Lots of interesting things to think about. It’s getting close now…