Adobe announced that it acquired a developer of software development kits (SDK) for photo-editing and third-party mobile software. Aviary’s SDKs are to be folded into the Adobe Creative SDK, which the company is building as a development platform for mobile apps. Terms of the acquisition were not given, but Aviary was privately held.
Aviary was responsible for bringing a free photo editor app to iOS and Android, giving users a way to express creative freedom. The app, which was downloaded more than 100 million times according to CEO Tobias Peggs, gave users the ability to apply filters, add artistic flair or touch-up photos on mobile devices. However, the company also developed a mobile SDK for photo-editing that it offered for free to third-party developers.
“While ensuring no interruption to Aviary’s developer community, or their apps’ users, we plan to add additional components and services for developers to incorporate – such as the ability to save creations to Creative Cloud in Adobe file formats, access Photoshop technology, and connect creativity across devices using the Creative SDK,” said Peggs.
It’s believed that the acquisition of Aviary will help Adobe speed along development of the Creative Cloud SDK, as the company looks to appeal to mobile developers with its suite of SDKs and application programming interfaces (API). The SDK for cloud-based features, which was announced in June, is still under development.
“Aviary has an exceptional team and technology platform, as well as expertise serving a robust developer ecosystem. We’re thrilled to leverage Aviary’s technology to make our Creative SDK even more powerful for app developers,” said Vice President of Creative Cloud Ecosystem and Behance at Adobe Scott Belsky. “This is great news for developers because thousands of mobile apps will have the opportunity to become compatible with industry-defining desktop tools like Photoshop CC, as well as new Creative Cloud services.”
As of the time of this article, the Aviator app is still available on iTunes and Google Play. However, neither Peggs nor Adobe make mention if the app will continue to be available or if it will be shuttered as a term of the acquisition. Peggs tells TechCrunch that the entire Aviary team will be joining Adobe.
