Adobe MAX 2011: Adobe buys webfonts service TypeKit

Adobe has acquired webfonts service Typekit. Available as a web service, Typekit's font library lets interactive designers replace standard web fonts with seamlessly-downloaded typography. High-profile sites using Typekit include The New York Times, Condé Nast and IGN.

Typekit fonts will be offered as a standalone service and over time as part of Adobe Creative Cloud, a collection of tools and services that aims to bring together the company's desktop Creative Suite tools with some new tablet apps and an Internet-based project sharing and syncing system. This includes the Touch Apps tablet apps, lncluding Photoshop Touch.

Typekit includes a library of hundreds of fonts from dozens of foundries, all licensed for legal use on the Web. Typekit's product offerings address a wide range of customers, from individuals and SMEs to enterprises and platform partners such as Wordpress, Behance and About.me that offer Typekit-powered font menus. Typekit technology is also expected to provide new distribution mechanisms for its foundry partners, including the growing collection of Adobe Web Fonts, which are selected from Adobe's own library of classic typefaces and optimised for quality on all current Web browsers.