Adobe continues to sell CS6 licenses via electronic download; partners irked

In a new twist to the story of Adobe's plan to discontinue offering CS6 commercial licenses under CLP (cumulative licensing program) and TLP (transactional licensing program) starting December 2, 2013, CS6 still continues to be available for purchase on adobe.com via electronic software download.

When asked how this is in tandem with Adobe's decision to discontinue providing CS6 perpetual license, a spokesperson of the company said, "For our individual customers in India and elsewhere, Adobe continues to sell Creative Suite 6 perpetual licenses via adobe.com."

The spokesperson added, "We are now encouraging our Small and Medium Business customers to consider Creative Cloud for teams through our Value Incentive Plan (VIP) and our Enterprise Customers to consider Creative Cloud for enterprises through our Enterprise Term License Agreement (ETLA)."

However, Adobe's resellers have been taken aback by this decision. For some, it even came as a surprise.

One of the platinum partners, who wished not to be named, said, "This revelation is news to me as this is in contradiction with the discontinuation of perpetual licenses."

He seemed disappointed and said that this move would kill channel business. He added, "There are various corporate customers who on an individual capacity can download electronically."

Another reseller seemed furious over this issue. He revealed, "Almost half the adobe's customers in India are individual. The company has undermined channel business."

On the contrary, Harinder Salwan,MD, Tricom Multimedia said that the awareness among partners is missing on different topics. He clarified that he is a staunch supporter of online sales, i.e. on cloud.

However, he said that there have been some issues with Adobe's operational structure. He revealed that Adobe's online business is managed by a third party company.

He added, "Adobe's channel reports to employees in Delhi and Mumbai, however, Adobe online marketing team reports to employees in Singapore."

Even lower echelons of channel sales in Adobe are not confident on how the online and channel business would work in tandem after the announcement, mentioned Salwan.