Adobe Chief Technology Officer Kevin Lynch Joining Apple as VP of Technologies

MacRumors · Mar 19, 2013, 04:12 PM

CNBC's Jon Fortt has just issued a Tweet reporting that Adobe Chief Technology Officer Kevin Lynch is leaving the company to join Apple. A second Tweet from CNBC claims that Lynch's departure from Adobe is coming this week.

It is not yet clear what role Lynch will be taking on Apple, but Fortt presumably has a full report coming soon.

Lynch spent ten years as Chief Software Architect at Macromedia before joining Adobe when it acquired Macromedia in 2005. Lynch has been Chief Technology Officer at Adobe since 2008.

In his executive role at Adobe, Lynch occasionally addressed tensions between Apple and Adobe over Flash as Apple chose not to support the technology on its iOS devices and to minimize its presence on the Mac platform. Lynch had expressed disappointment at Apple's "negative campaigning" against Flash, but the two companies have obviously continued to have a working relationship.

Update: Adobe announced Lynch's departure in a filing with the SEC today, though it did not specify where he will be working next.

Quote:

Item 5.02. Departure of Directors or Certain Officers; Election of Directors; Appointment of Certain Officers; Compensatory Arrangements of Certain Officers.

(b)

On March 18, 2013, Kevin Lynch resigned from his position as Executive Vice President, Chief Technology Officer, of Adobe Systems Incorporated, effective March 22, 2013, to pursue other opportunities.

Update 2: Adobe issued this statement to AllThingsD, saying that Lynch will be going to Apple -- though it doesn't specify what position he will be taking:

Quote:

"Kevin Lynch, Adobe CTO, is leaving the company effective March 22 to take a position at Apple," an Adobe spokesperson told AllThingsD. "We will not be replacing the CTO position; responsibility for technology development lies with our business unit heads under the leadership of Adobe CEO Shantanu Narayen. Bryan Lamkin, who has recently returned to Adobe, will assume responsibilities for cross company research and technology initiatives as well as Corporate Development. We wish Kevin well in this new chapter of his career."

Update 3: CNBC's Jon Fortt tweets that Lynch will be reporting to Bob Mansfield, Apple's senior vice president of Technologies.

Article Link: Adobe Chief Technology Officer Kevin Lynch Joining Apple as VP of Technologies

Slackula · Mar 19, 2013, 04:14 PM

It's official. Apple is buying Adobe.

markfc · Mar 19, 2013, 04:14 PM

Finally! Flash on ios...haha no thanks!

Henriok · Mar 19, 2013, 04:17 PM

I think it'd be great for him to join Apple as VP for professional creative markets. And let's hope he left Adobe because his disdain for their lack of interest in future technologies, crappy installers, buggy software and feature creep.

The Samurai · Mar 19, 2013, 04:17 PM

Flash is now approved.

OrangeSVTguy · Mar 19, 2013, 04:17 PM

Flash is finally coming to iOS!!!!

nepalisherpa · Mar 19, 2013, 04:20 PM

iOS 7 will be flash-based!

nickgri · Mar 19, 2013, 04:22 PM

Bring Flash back! Ok maybe without the CPU hogging video component-but why get rid of the rest? One of the BEST interactive software programs ever written that used vector scalable images with layers and multimedia functionality-is there yet an HTML5 interface that can really compete with what Flash did? Not yet-why not? They are trying but not there yet-please get with it programmers and make something designers can use- not just programmers- for simple interactivity. Make it better than Flash! We are waiting.

Renzatic · Mar 19, 2013, 04:24 PM

Wow. It's kinda sad that the first thing you people think of when you hear about Adobe is Flash.

Krazy Bill · Mar 19, 2013, 04:25 PM

Well crap. There goes the neighborhood.

needfx · Mar 19, 2013, 04:25 PM

maybe he will be looking into aperture and stuff

Ryth · Mar 19, 2013, 04:26 PM

Maybe we can now get our own creative suite instead of Adobes which is filled with products most of us don't want.

Small White Car · Mar 19, 2013, 04:27 PM

Quote:

Originally Posted by Renzatic

Wow. It's kinda sad that the first thing you people think of when you hear about Adobe is Flash.

Yeah... my first thought was "Final Cut Pro..?"

But apparently I'm the minority here with that one.

Moonjumper · Mar 19, 2013, 04:27 PM

Hopefully we will be seeing Apple's take on Photoshop, Illustrator, etc. We just need someone to do it in the hope that Adobe prices come down to something more reasonable. They have no serious opposition at the moment, and as we all know, competition improves the breed and brings down prices.

Razeus · Mar 19, 2013, 04:28 PM

Maybe the will make Aperture 4, instead of the abandonware that it is now...

TSE · Mar 19, 2013, 04:29 PM

Quote:

Originally Posted by Renzatic

Wow. It's kinda sad that the first thing you people think of when you hear about Adobe is Flash.

Agreed.

This means a lot for Apple in terms of their creative suite such as Final Cut.

Renzatic · Mar 19, 2013, 04:31 PM

Quote:

Originally Posted by Small White Car

Yeah... my first thought was "Final Cut Pro..?"

But apparently I'm the minority here with that one.

Yup. It could mean Apple is finally taking the high end market seriously again...

...or we're gonna soon see Final Cut iOS.

Attonine · Mar 19, 2013, 04:32 PM

Will be interesting to see whether his role will include core OS X features and functionality or Pro apps.

Popeye206 · Mar 19, 2013, 04:32 PM

Could be a great addition to the Apple team. Might bring some interesting perspectives to several products. Will be interesting to see what they do with him.

audio_inside · Mar 19, 2013, 04:33 PM

Quote:

Originally Posted by Razeus

Maybe the will make Aperture 4, instead of the abandonware that it is now...

Seriously, my first thought was that we might finally get some decent updates to Aperture.

Glad I'm not the only one who's begun to despair that Aperture was going to be orphaned (or, perhaps worse yet, "mobile"-ized.)

e-coli · Mar 19, 2013, 04:34 PM

Hopefully this means Aperture, FCP and Motion (yeah right) will get a hell of a lot better.

jclardy · Mar 19, 2013, 04:35 PM

Quote:

Originally Posted by Renzatic

Wow. It's kinda sad that the first thing you people think of when you hear about Adobe is Flash.

Well this guy came from Macromedia first, the original creator of Flash. He was likely more involved in that than Adobe's other professional products.

That plus I have seen him in a ton of the blackberry developer videos from the past few years trying to push Adobe Air as a great mobile development platform.

So I'm personally not the biggest fan of this guy.

scaredpoet · Mar 19, 2013, 04:38 PM

Quote:

Originally Posted by jclardy

Well this guy came from Macromedia first, the original creator of Flash. He was likely more involved in that than Adobe's other professional products.

That plus I have seen him in a ton of the blackberry developer videos from the past few years trying to push Adobe Air as a great mobile development platform.

So I'm personally not the biggest fan of this guy.

Neither am I. I may be in the minority on this one, but I don't see this as a good move at all.

lunarworks · Mar 19, 2013, 04:40 PM

Quote:

Originally Posted by Attonine

Will be interesting to see whether his role will include core OS X features and functionality or Pro apps.

I'm thinking Pro apps. Adobe Premiere pulled a lot of people away from FCP in recent years.

A Hebrew · Mar 19, 2013, 04:41 PM

Just like everybody elses thoughts:

Introducing iFlash: The biggest thing to happen to iOS since iOS

Mar 19, 2013, 04:14 PM	#2
Slackula macrumors member Join Date: Nov 2003	It's official. Apple is buying Adobe.
	11

Mar 19, 2013, 04:17 PM	#5
The Samurai macrumors 68000 Join Date: Dec 2007 Location: Glasgow	Flash is now approved. __________________ AyeGear l iDevice / Gadget & Travel Clothing - iPad & Macbook Air Pockets
	2

Mar 19, 2013, 04:17 PM	#6
OrangeSVTguy macrumors 68040 Join Date: Sep 2007 Location: Northeastern Ohio	Flash is finally coming to iOS!!!! __________________ ╔═════╦═════╦═════╗ ╚═════╩═════╩═════╝
	2

Mar 19, 2013, 04:20 PM	#7
nepalisherpa macrumors 65816 Join Date: Aug 2011 Location: USA	iOS 7 will be flash-based! __________________ Mid-2010 13" MBP/128GB Crucial M4 SSD/250GB Stock HDD/8GB RAM/Dual Boot: OS X 10.8.2 & Windows 7 Professional iPhone 5 32GB Black iPad 2 32GB WiFi Black
	6

Mar 19, 2013, 04:22 PM	#8
nickgri macrumors member Join Date: May 2011	Flashback Bring Flash back! Ok maybe without the CPU hogging video component-but why get rid of the rest? One of the BEST interactive software programs ever written that used vector scalable images with layers and multimedia functionality-is there yet an HTML5 interface that can really compete with what Flash did? Not yet-why not? They are trying but not there yet-please get with it programmers and make something designers can use- not just programmers- for simple interactivity. Make it better than Flash! We are waiting.
	5

Mar 19, 2013, 04:14 PM	#3
markfc macrumors 6502a Join Date: Sep 2006 Location: Prestatyn, Wales, UK	Finally! Flash on ios...haha no thanks!
	12

Mar 19, 2013, 04:17 PM	#4
Henriok macrumors regular Join Date: Feb 2002 Location: Gothenburg, Sweden	I think it'd be great for him to join Apple as VP for professional creative markets. And let's hope he left Adobe because his disdain for their lack of interest in future technologies, crappy installers, buggy software and feature creep.
	8

Mar 19, 2013, 04:24 PM	#9
Renzatic macrumors 601 Join Date: Aug 2011 Location: Android Fone Spy	Wow. It's kinda sad that the first thing you people think of when you hear about Adobe is Flash.
	46

Mar 19, 2013, 04:25 PM	#10
Krazy Bill macrumors 68020 Join Date: Dec 2011	Well crap. There goes the neighborhood. __________________ We are the iBorg. All your OS X are belong to us.
	6

Mar 19, 2013, 04:25 PM	#11
needfx macrumors 65816 Join Date: Aug 2010 Location: macrumors apparently	maybe he will be looking into aperture and stuff
	9

Mar 19, 2013, 04:26 PM	#12
Ryth macrumors 65816 Join Date: Apr 2011	Maybe we can now get our own creative suite instead of Adobes which is filled with products most of us don't want.
	5

Mar 19, 2013, 04:27 PM	#14
Moonjumper macrumors 6502a Join Date: Jun 2009 Location: Lincoln, UK	Hopefully we will be seeing Apple's take on Photoshop, Illustrator, etc. We just need someone to do it in the hope that Adobe prices come down to something more reasonable. They have no serious opposition at the moment, and as we all know, competition improves the breed and brings down prices. __________________ ShootStorm - universal neo-retro iOS shoot-em-up action ShootStorm Survival - free single-life version
	0

Mar 19, 2013, 04:28 PM	#15
Razeus macrumors 68020 Join Date: Jul 2008	Maybe the will make Aperture 4, instead of the abandonware that it is now... __________________ Twitter \| Google+ \| Tumblr
	11

Mar 19, 2013, 04:32 PM	#18
Attonine macrumors 6502 Join Date: Feb 2006 Location: UK	Will be interesting to see whether his role will include core OS X features and functionality or Pro apps.
	0

Mar 19, 2013, 04:32 PM	#19
Popeye206 macrumors 68020 Join Date: Sep 2007 Location: NE PA USA	Could be a great addition to the Apple team. Might bring some interesting perspectives to several products. Will be interesting to see what they do with him.
	2

Mar 19, 2013, 04:34 PM	#21
e-coli macrumors 65816 Join Date: Jul 2002	Hopefully this means Aperture, FCP and Motion (yeah right) will get a hell of a lot better.
	3

Mar 19, 2013, 04:41 PM	#25
A Hebrew macrumors 6502a Join Date: Jan 2012 Location: Minnesota	Just like everybody elses thoughts: Introducing iFlash: The biggest thing to happen to iOS since iOS __________________ 2012 13" MacBook Air \| Third Generation iPad \| Fifth Generation iPod Touch \| Apple TV 3
	0

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