Adobe is putting its Type On Call program in North America to rest. The software was discontinued a while ago, and Adobe stopped issuing new unlocking codes for Type on Call fonts last September. But Adobe now says that after this week, it’ll no longer be able to provide unlocking codes for Type On Call fonts that have been previously purchased in North America — essentially discontinuing the last vestige of this software application for the North American market.
Adobe’s documentation suggests that Type On Call is still actively supported throughout countries outside of North America. The company lists a number of international phone numbers that can be used to register the software and to purchase keys. European users can also purchase Type On Call keys online.
Before Internet font distribution became as popular as it is now, Adobe’s Type On Call software offered up Adobe’s font library encrypted on CD-ROM. After purchasing the CD collection, users could call Adobe, pay a fee, and unlock the encrypted fonts for use in their work. Since then, Adobe has replaced the Type On Call program with its own online font purchase environment to enable users to buy fonts from the Adobe Type Library (Europeans have access to their own download center as well).
With this new announcement, users in North America who have purchased Type On Call fonts in the past are strongly encouraged to protect their existing unlocked Type On Call fonts by creating backup copies. As of June 4, if you lose the Type On Call fonts or unlocking codes you’ve previously paid for, you won’t be able to get the unlocking code from Adobe again.