Adobe 'all-in' on Photoshop for iPad despite missing features, Illustrator for iPad report...

AppleInsider

A report on Monday confirms Adobe's ambitions for Photoshop CC for iPad, saying the company is "all-in" on what is billed as a "real" version of Photoshop tailored for tablet use. Separate rumblings claim the firm is readying an iteration of Illustrator for iPad slated to launch in 2020.

Citing sources familiar with Adobe's plans, Daring Fireball's John Gruber reports the company is taking the Photoshop CC for iPad effort seriously ahead of an expected release this fall.

"They view it as a serious, top-shelf project for creative professionals," Gruber writes. "The team of engineers working on it has grown significantly from a year ago, and they have plans to add features iteratively on an aggressive schedule."

The comments come on the heels of a Bloomberg report last week that claimed beta testers were left wanting more from the hotly anticipated creative app. Part of the issue, according to testers, is a dearth of desktop features which seemingly runs counter to Adobe's claims that the app will be a "real" version of Photoshop built for a touch-based user interface.

As noted by Gruber, the problem appears to be a misunderstanding of what Adobe is promising. When the company announced Photoshop for iPad last October, it said the app is "real Photoshop" insofar as it shares a code base with its desktop counterpart. Consumers, testers and apparently media outlets like Bloomberg took that to mean Photoshop for iPad would boast a complete complement of features. It will not, at least not at launch.

Scott Belsky, chief product officer of Adobe Creative Cloud, explained the limited feature set in a statement last week.

"Launching every single feature that was accumulated over 25 years on the iPad on day one would not best serve our customers and the needs they have," Belsky said, adding that Adobe plans to make additions in the future. "I want to say it's the best product in the world for specific workflows and not have to apologize that it's not full because that's not what the customer needs."

As customers await official word on a Photoshop for iPad release date, Bloomberg on Monday reports Adobe is moving forward with plans to expand Creative Cloud's presence on iOS and is developing an iPad version of drawing tool Illustrator.

According to sources, the app will be previewed at Photoshop's Max conference next month. Whether Illustrator for iPad will follow in the footsteps of Photoshop for iPad and utilize a "real" desktop-class engine remains unclear. Features are also unknown, though it can be presumed Adobe is working in support for Apple Pencil.

After developing a litany of bite-sized mobile apps, Adobe appears ready to take on the decidedly monumental task of delivering "real" versions of its most popular software to users of iPad and other portable slates. The company continues to develop mobile-first offerings alongside those efforts, the most recent being digital painting and drawing app Adobe Fresco.

wizard69

You have to wonder how people in this society got so out of touch with reality that they actually expected 100 percent of photoshop.   Just the fact that iPad is touch based should have got them to thinking.  

9secondkox2

So... adobe launched an incomplete product due to erroneous understanding of my needs. 

I get that. 

Now fix it please. 

There is no roadblock to a full photoshop version other than effort. 

mac_dog

Haha! Some things never change. I remember this exact promise throughout  the ‘90’s. 

Fatman

Photoshop and Illustrator for iPad is the precursor to Adobe CS for Mac ARM. Microsoft is hedging by offering a new ARM based surface. Intel is in trouble.

fastasleep

9secondkox2 said:

So... adobe launched an incomplete product due to erroneous understanding of my needs. 

I get that. 

Now fix it please. 

There is no roadblock to a full photoshop version other than effort. 

FTFA: "The team of engineers working on it has grown significantly from a year ago, and they have plans to add features iteratively on an aggressive schedule." 

jhalmos

Affinity Photo is going to be a tough one to beat. It’s already a copy of the desktop version and is a year ahead of Adobe releasing it’s baby-step version. And Affinity also has Illustrator beat. Good luck with that.

DAalseth

jhalmos said:

Affinity Photo is going to be a tough one to beat. It’s already a copy of the desktop version and is a year ahead of Adobe releasing it’s baby-step version. And Affinity also has Illustrator beat. Good luck with that.

I agree totally. Affinity is starting to really give Adobe a run for their money. Their pricing is reasonable, and their products are VERY GOOD.

hammeroftruth

Either way, it’s still Adobe’s fault for not setting correct expectations and now we know why. 

Sure it would be pretty close to impossible to reproduce the same program on the iPad that has existed for decades on the Mac.
Adobe also knew that it’s better for them to keep up the hype train and then at the end tell their customers that they weren’t the ones that promised what journalists said they were promising. 

We could ask Kevin Lynch how shitty Adobe’s coders are to find out why we can’t get a full blown version of photoshop on iOS, but that’s another story. 

cy_starkman

DAalseth said:

jhalmos said:

Affinity Photo is going to be a tough one to beat. It’s already a copy of the desktop version and is a year ahead of Adobe releasing it’s baby-step version. And Affinity also has Illustrator beat. Good luck with that.

I agree totally. Affinity is starting to really give Adobe a run for their money. Their pricing is reasonable, and their products are VERY GOOD.

has also recently discovered Affinity Designer after using InDesign for 17yrs and just wow, it blows InDesign away in performance (i was going to buy a new MBP because my Adobe suite performance was getting so bad); in terms of feature set it may lack some exotica but for 99% it is doing great.

not only was Affinity 1/10th the price, it saved me spending $5,000AUD for a new laptop i didn’t even need.

I am keen to get their Illustrator replacement when a job arises.

This is actually what concerns me about PS for iPadOS. It shares the same code base ?!?! that just means slow clunky rubbish is being ported.

cy_starkman

hammeroftruth said:

Either way, it’s still Adobe’s fault for not setting correct expectations and now we know why. 

Sure it would be pretty close to impossible to reproduce the same program on the iPad that has existed for decades on the Mac.
Adobe also knew that it’s better for them to keep up the hype train and then at the end tell their customers that they weren’t the ones that promised what journalists said they were promising. 

We could ask Kevin Lynch how shitty Adobe’s coders are to find out why we can’t get a full blown version of photoshop on iOS, but that’s another story. 

i think there is also a disconnect between what users, professional or otherwise think full blown means while flipping tables - and what adobe knows full blown is.

let’s take an arbitrary version of you for example (i don’t know what you really use PS for).

Are you a statistical scientist using Photoshop to apply transformations across visual data sets? probably not, but such professionals do use photoshop this way and the full blown version can do this out of the box.

Are you a person who designs folder droplets for batch processing 1000s of images with complex macros? probably not, but the full blown version can do this out of the box.

Are you a person who for some deranged reason is heavily invested in photoshop as a cel animation platform instead of using the many excellent and affordable software studios available and used by professional animators all over the world? maybe you are and full blown photoshop can do that out of the box

and less likely is that you, no matter who you are uses photoshop in a full blown way because simply put the amount of individuals who do or even at a stretch even could is exactly zero.

that said if you are a visual data analyst who uses photoshop to apply complex mathematical formulas across folders of 1000s of images for clients interested in determining stress patterns in populations - well hey, iPad Photoshop probably will lack that feature on day 1 or even day 1000.

go flip a table

yojimbo007

cy_starkman said:

hammeroftruth said:

Either way, it’s still Adobe’s fault for not setting correct expectations and now we know why. 

Sure it would be pretty close to impossible to reproduce the same program on the iPad that has existed for decades on the Mac.
Adobe also knew that it’s better for them to keep up the hype train and then at the end tell their customers that they weren’t the ones that promised what journalists said they were promising. 

We could ask Kevin Lynch how shitty Adobe’s coders are to find out why we can’t get a full blown version of photoshop on iOS, but that’s another story. 

i think there is also a disconnect between what users, professional or otherwise think full blown means while flipping tables - and what adobe knows full blown is.

let’s take an arbitrary version of you for example (i don’t know what you really use PS for).

Are you a statistical scientist using Photoshop to apply transformations across visual data sets? probably not, but such professionals do use photoshop this way and the full blown version can do this out of the box.

Are you a person who designs folder droplets for batch processing 1000s of images with complex macros? probably not, but the full blown version can do this out of the box.

Are you a person who for some deranged reason is heavily invested in photoshop as a cel animation platform instead of using the many excellent and affordable software studios available and used by professional animators all over the world? maybe you are and full blown photoshop can do that out of the box

and less likely is that you, no matter who you are uses photoshop in a full blown way because simply put the amount of individuals who do or even at a stretch even could is exactly zero.

that said if you are a visual data analyst who uses photoshop to apply complex mathematical formulas across folders of 1000s of images for clients interested in determining stress patterns in populations - well hey, iPad Photoshop probably will lack that feature on day 1 or even day 1000.

go flip a table

One does not need to be a statistical scientist or a visual data analyst or a batch processor.. to need 
filters, pen tool, custom paintbrush libraries, RAW editing, and more...

jdw

Stick it to the man.  Buy the Affinity suite.  Just say no to endless subscriptions.

602warren

I was at Adobe Max last year and watched this keynote. They ABSOLUTELY led everyone there to believe it was a desktop class product on iPad. The demos were fluid, contained real time editing of a file with over 100 layers, and synced across Creative Cloud to pick up where you left off if you went back to desktop. They also said it would be launching ‘early 2019’. I’m looking forward to next months conference to see the Illustrator preview and how they backpedal Photoshop.

wizard69 said:

You have to wonder how people in this society got so out of touch with reality that they actually expected 100 percent of photoshop.   Just the fact that iPad is touch based should have got them to thinking.  

bloggerblog

Adobe has a lot of problems, they really need to turn a new page.
Unbloat your software, streamline your UI, streamline your shortcuts, and put together a sensible suite that solves specific roles. Adobe’s apps are so fragmented, what’s their vision?

One thing that shows how out of tune they are with their users is Adobe’s push towards using their cloud drive. It’s getting to a point where I have to go through 4 clicks just to get to the finder. Our company does not allow us to use the Adobe cloud for good reasons.

cy_starkman

yojimbo007 said:

cy_starkman said:

hammeroftruth said:

Either way, it’s still Adobe’s fault for not setting correct expectations and now we know why. 

Sure it would be pretty close to impossible to reproduce the same program on the iPad that has existed for decades on the Mac.
Adobe also knew that it’s better for them to keep up the hype train and then at the end tell their customers that they weren’t the ones that promised what journalists said they were promising. 

We could ask Kevin Lynch how shitty Adobe’s coders are to find out why we can’t get a full blown version of photoshop on iOS, but that’s another story. 

i think there is also a disconnect between what users, professional or otherwise think full blown means while flipping tables - and what adobe knows full blown is.

let’s take an arbitrary version of you for example (i don’t know what you really use PS for).

Are you a statistical scientist using Photoshop to apply transformations across visual data sets? probably not, but such professionals do use photoshop this way and the full blown version can do this out of the box.

Are you a person who designs folder droplets for batch processing 1000s of images with complex macros? probably not, but the full blown version can do this out of the box.

Are you a person who for some deranged reason is heavily invested in photoshop as a cel animation platform instead of using the many excellent and affordable software studios available and used by professional animators all over the world? maybe you are and full blown photoshop can do that out of the box

and less likely is that you, no matter who you are uses photoshop in a full blown way because simply put the amount of individuals who do or even at a stretch even could is exactly zero.

that said if you are a visual data analyst who uses photoshop to apply complex mathematical formulas across folders of 1000s of images for clients interested in determining stress patterns in populations - well hey, iPad Photoshop probably will lack that feature on day 1 or even day 1000.

go flip a table

One does not need to be a statistical scientist or a visual data analyst or a batch processor.. to need 
filters, pen tool, custom paintbrush libraries, RAW editing, and more...

so yeah... basic functions, about 25% of the software. people are whining that it might not be “full blown” not the basics.

like i said, such people don’t even know what photoshop can do, or its full feature set, they just think they are “full blown” users.

pretty much the same as google docs users who think it offers the same functionality as desktop MS Word because all they do is centre text, change font size and use bullets.

firelock

602warren said:

I was at Adobe Max last year and watched this keynote. They ABSOLUTELY led everyone there to believe it was a desktop class product on iPad. The demos were fluid, contained real time editing of a file with over 100 layers, and synced across Creative Cloud to pick up where you left off if you went back to desktop. They also said it would be launching ‘early 2019’. I’m looking forward to next months conference to see the Illustrator preview and how they backpedal Photoshop.

wizard69 said:

You have to wonder how people in this society got so out of touch with reality that they actually expected 100 percent of photoshop.   Just the fact that iPad is touch based should have got them to thinking.  

I was also at that conference and subscribed to Adobe CC Photography edition (or whatever they call it) partly based on the promise that PS for iPad was coming in early 2019. While I have been using and enjoying Lightroom CC (I always hated the original “desktop” Lightroom), I am disappointed that Adobe has failed to live up to their promise of coming out with PS this year. And I am much more disappointed that it will lack so many features at launch. I would have no problem with PS not having every feature at launch, but if it actually lacks basics like curves that is a different story.

StrangeDays

yojimbo007 said:

cy_starkman said:

hammeroftruth said:

Either way, it’s still Adobe’s fault for not setting correct expectations and now we know why. 

Sure it would be pretty close to impossible to reproduce the same program on the iPad that has existed for decades on the Mac.
Adobe also knew that it’s better for them to keep up the hype train and then at the end tell their customers that they weren’t the ones that promised what journalists said they were promising. 

We could ask Kevin Lynch how shitty Adobe’s coders are to find out why we can’t get a full blown version of photoshop on iOS, but that’s another story. 

i think there is also a disconnect between what users, professional or otherwise think full blown means while flipping tables - and what adobe knows full blown is.

let’s take an arbitrary version of you for example (i don’t know what you really use PS for).

Are you a statistical scientist using Photoshop to apply transformations across visual data sets? probably not, but such professionals do use photoshop this way and the full blown version can do this out of the box.

Are you a person who designs folder droplets for batch processing 1000s of images with complex macros? probably not, but the full blown version can do this out of the box.

Are you a person who for some deranged reason is heavily invested in photoshop as a cel animation platform instead of using the many excellent and affordable software studios available and used by professional animators all over the world? maybe you are and full blown photoshop can do that out of the box

and less likely is that you, no matter who you are uses photoshop in a full blown way because simply put the amount of individuals who do or even at a stretch even could is exactly zero.

that said if you are a visual data analyst who uses photoshop to apply complex mathematical formulas across folders of 1000s of images for clients interested in determining stress patterns in populations - well hey, iPad Photoshop probably will lack that feature on day 1 or even day 1000.

go flip a table

One does not need to be a statistical scientist or a visual data analyst or a batch processor.. to need 
filters, pen tool, custom paintbrush libraries, RAW editing, and more...

The point is it’s not “full Photoshop” until it can do every single thing desktop PS can. So the expectation for “full” is suspect. It will I’m sure support filters and pen tool among all the most common use cases. 

spice-boy

I could not imagine wanting to use PS on a iPad. Making color, contrast, levels etc... adjustments is one thing but cutting out shapes, juggling layers and detail work is still best suited to a desktop.

Dave Cummings

602warren said:

I was at Adobe Max last year and watched this keynote. They ABSOLUTELY led everyone there to believe it was a desktop class product on iPad. The demos were fluid, contained real time editing of a file with over 100 layers, and synced across Creative Cloud to pick up where you left off if you went back to desktop. They also said it would be launching ‘early 2019’. I’m looking forward to next months conference to see the Illustrator preview and how they backpedal Photoshop.

wizard69 said:

You have to wonder how people in this society got so out of touch with reality that they actually expected 100 percent of photoshop.   Just the fact that iPad is touch based should have got them to thinking.  

They never said "early 2019"  They just said 2019

Dave Cummings

DAalseth said:

jhalmos said:

Affinity Photo is going to be a tough one to beat. It’s already a copy of the desktop version and is a year ahead of Adobe releasing it’s baby-step version. And Affinity also has Illustrator beat. Good luck with that.

I agree totally. Affinity is starting to really give Adobe a run for their money. Their pricing is reasonable, and their products are VERY GOOD.

I'm not really a fan of Affinity, there's a lot of potential with that app,  but I can't get comfortable with the UI