Phoenix Software consolidates its position as one of leading distributors by adding Mac titles to its portfolio

Phoenix Software, one of the foremost software republishers and distributors, has experienced rapid growth in the past five years.

The company was founded in 1999 at the end of the dot-com boom. Many companies who quickly saw an opportunity to profit from the Internet were not well-equipped to do so and suffered huge losses as a result.

At the start, Phoenix Software saw that it was necessary to have a long period of consolidated growth and careful planning. The company developed its business strategy to deliver cost-effective software, thus allowing for significant margin opportunities for its reseller base in the newly-emerging markets.

Now with the addition of key Mac titles, Phoenix Software continues to build itself a reputation as a serious player in the software re-publishing and distribution business, both locally and internationally.

"We are currently seeing a huge growth path in the Mac market in SA," stated Simon Campbell-Young, CEO of Phoenix Software. "The dual platform-based (Universal) products are having a very positive impact on the software market. We have secured the rights to some key brands, which are already market leaders worldwide.

"The demand for Mac-based educational and design software is also very much on the increase, with Apple having 80% of the local graphics market. Mac hardware offers a very unique and stable computing platform, which a huge amount of consumers and small businesses are readily choosing over their PC-based counterparts. It seems the Apple Macintosh depression of the late 80's is finally over," stated Je`an Prince - Phoenix Mac Division Product manager.

A range of Mac titles are now available from Apple re-sellers and include: Parallels Desktop for Mac gives you the flexibility of running Windows on a Mac at the same time without rebooting. Run important Windows-only software applications without giving up the security, comfort and functionality of your Mac.

Disco Deluxe Edition brings drag-and-drop simplicity to burning CDs and DVDs on your Macintosh. Whether you are backing-up files, duplicating movies made with iDVD, or creating custom audio CDs, Disco does it all with its innovative and easy to use interface.

Print Explosion Deluxe 3.0 is the fastest, easiest way for Mac users to create spectacular custom print projects. This new edition delivers more creative options than ever before, from store-quality greeting cards to photorealistic scrapbooks. Optimised for both PowerPC and Intel-based Macs, Print Explosion Deluxe 3.0 also provides complete integration with iTunes and iPhoto.

Art Explosion 750 000 gives you 750 000 sensational images on 48 CD-ROMs. You get 65% scalable vector clip art (EPS) and more than 80% of the images are in colour. It includes a two-volume image catalogue, with over 1 800 pages in all. A quick locator index and an on-screen image viewer built for OS X make it easy to locate images in a snap.

Photo Objects 150 000 included in this package is 150 000 high-resolution royalty-free photos, pre-masked and ready to add to documents in all of your favourite applications. An easy-to-use image browser is included for fast searching. Photo Objects 150 000 is ideal both for print and Web projects.

Roxio Toast 8 sets the standard for burning CDs, DVDs, and now Blu-ray discs on the Mac. Create superior sounding audio CDs with cross-fades. Enjoy your TV shows anywhere with exclusive EyeTV burning and TiVoToGo transfers to DVD or iPod. Copy your audio CDs, movies and DVDs. It's your digital life, toast it.

Roxio Popcorn 2 helps you make high-quality copies of your DVDs and movies easily. Powerful Fit-to-DVD compression technology fits an entire 9GB DVD video onto a standard 4.7GB disc. Back up a full DVD, or create your own director's cut and choose the individual DVD video, audio, and language to copy. Convert your movies to watch on an iPod, PSP, 3GP mobile phone, DivX handheld, and more.

Punch Home Studio Design includes an intuitive interface and simple tools for a quick learning curve. Cutting-edge technology creates breathtaking 3D views with controllable sun angle and shadows. Unique PowerTools allow design and editing from within the program. Logically-presented toolsets keep your workspace clutter-free.

Punch ViaCAD delivers a powerful new way of designing and delivering a surprisingly easy system for creating 2D and 3D designs, using its patent-pending adaptive user interface and LogiCursor technology.

In ViaCAD, 3D designs automatically create 2D details, plans and elevations with a single mouse click. The software also delivers industry standard interoperability, including Google SketchUp, AutoCAD 2007, Adobe Illustrator and other common 3D formats.

Learning a new language is easy with the Berlitz range of programmes. Now available in premier edition for Italian, Spanish, French, German, Chinese and Japanese.