Nitro PDF Software Widens the Playing Field for PDFs

Nitro PDF Software provides an alternative to Adobe (News - Alert). Its Nitro PDF Professional is arguably the first alternative to Adobe Acrobat. And its Nitro PDF Reader is an option to the Adobe Reader.

Nitro’s Gina O'Reilly, senior vice president of Sales & Marketing, explained the company’s offerings during a recent interview in San Jose, Calif., with TMCnet’s Carl Ford (News - Alert).

“Some people think it’s all about Adobe,” O’Reilly said during the interview. “There are other people in the mix, too.”

She knows the field well. Before Nitro PDF Software, O'Reilly worked at activePDF, Inc., where she was marketing manager and director of sales and marketing. She was also international relations and marketing manager for Software Technology Resources, a software distributor based in Paris. With degrees in International Marketing and Languages from Dublin City University, Ireland, and an MBA, she also studied at the Ecole Supérieure des Sciences Commerciales d'Angers (ESSCA).

“Nitro Reader is essentially a replacement for Adobe Reader,” she explained. “Adobe Reader … doesn’t really allow you to do a whole lot more than view PDF files. So what we wanted to do with our free version of Nitro Reader is really make it a product that can be universally useful and not only can you view PDF files much faster … you can also create PDF files.”

There are different ways to create PDFs using Nitro Reader. These include grab and drop files on the Nitro Reader icon on a desktop, file print just like with Microsoft (News - Alert) Word, select the Nitro Reader printer, and create PDFs directly from the Nitro Reader.

Of all the features found on Nitro Reader, her favorite is the one which allows a user to stamp a signature on a PDF file.

“With the Nitro Reader you can simply click, type, sign and send within a few seconds,” she said.

It is also the only free PDF reader to offer several collaboration tools, creating PDFs from over 300 different formats, the ability to save PDF forms, and the ability to type text directly onto the page.

In addition, the company’s flagship product is the Nitro PDF Professional. “We’re trying to debunk the myth that PDF files are complicated to work with,” she said about the product. It costs $99 for a single-user license. The prices come down as volume goes up for enterprise users.

Nitro PDF Professional provides control over PDF documents, such as commenting, form-filling and authoring, digital signatures, text editing, and one-click creation from Microsoft Office, the company said.

Nitro’s target market is small and medium sized business, but the company is finding many large businesses want their products as well. Some of its large-size customers are GE, Toyota and Wells Fargo (News - Alert). Nitro PDF Software has operations in North America, Europe, Asia, and Australia.

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