Adobe released the version 9 of its Adobe Acrobat software within the newly introduced Creative Suite 3.3, an intermediary release between the Creative Suite 3 and the upcoming Creative Suite 4. The most important feature of Adobe Acrobat 9 is the ability to play Flash and Shockwave content and six other video formats.

Also, a new PDF Portfolios feature in Acrobat 9 lets users drag and drop documents and multimedia content into a single PDF document. Subsequently, users are able to choose from myriad layout and presentation options. The new version also allows the creation of PDF maps by importing geospatial files that retain metadata and coordinates. As expected, Acrobat 9 makes use of the Acrobat.com service.

Adobe Acrobat was originally released in 1993 for Macintosh only. Version 2 released the next year also supported Windows. Adobe Acrobat 8.0 was released two years ago.

Early this month, Adobe released a free Web-based beta supplement called Acrobat.com for its popular PDF application. It has four major components: Buzzword - a Flash-based word processor; Share – a feature which will be used for online file sharing; a free PDF file format converter; and finally, a personal Web conferencing tool called ConnectNow, which supports up to three conference participants and also permits sharing the computer desktop in order to collaborate on a certain document in real time.

Last December, Adobe and Yahoo! unveiled a new ad service, which can be used to distribute Web ads embedded in PDF files. The service, called Ads for Adobe PDF Powered by Yahoo!, allows commercial publishers to drive new revenue through the contextual ads placed in PDFs.