Adobe Gains on Amazon E-Book Deal

Adobe Systems (Nasdaq: ADBE) was up US$3.97 at $39.80 in morning trading Tuesday, after the software maker and Amazon.com (Nasdaq: AMZN) announced an e-book alliance. Adobe said that its Acrobat eBook Reader software will be offered through Amazon's e-book store. Almost 2,000 Adobe-based books will be sold on the site, and the alliance will be expanded to Amazon sites in France, Germany, Japan and the United Kingdom over the next year, the companies said. By teaming with Amazon.com, Adobe will be able to offer consumers an interactive e-book reading experience "with the added ability to print content," said Michael Looney, Adobe's senior director of e-books. Looney said the partnership should appeal to "mobile professionals" and students, who can use the site to buy and print material such as financial reports and course work.