It’s no secret that hardware performance in mobile devices is progressing so rapidly that it’s been seriously changing the way smartphones and tablets are used by creative professionals, especially visual artists. With the emergence of the innovations like Microsoft’s Surface and the Wacom Cintiq Pro line with the built-in Pro Engine, retouchers have had the option to work beyond the traditional office desk setup, granting unlimited ability to retouch at a professional level, just about anywhere.
Unfortunately, current professional display tablet options are still sitting at price points which are out of reach for many, but we can rest assured that that fact has not gone unnoticed by tech manufacturers. Over the last couple of years we’ve been seeing more and more third party manufacturers offer alternatives to Wacom’s comprehensive product line, which is still regarded as being the standard for photographers and retouchers.
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That said, Apple and Adobe have announced that iPads will be able to run the full version of Photoshop (something its competitors have been able to do) sometime next year. Despite slow sales of the companies tablets, the recent release of the iPad Pro sparked new interest, but fell short for retouchers, due to only being able to run Adobe mobile apps. Given this latest announcement, however, we can expect interest to be restored for many retouchers. No doubt, Apple is hoping to put a dent into Wacom and Microsoft’s market share.
Adobe’s plan to place the iPad at the center of its new cross-platform strategy is another signal the Cupertino, California-based hardware giant and the software maker are past a once-contentious relationship.
Current reporting tells us we won’t see this implemented until sometime in 2019. But we can expect to hear more at this year’s Adobe Max conference which takes place this October. Regardless, Adobe’s commitment to working with Apple is pretty clear.
In recent years, Adobe has been a fixture at Apple product announcements, continuously being used as an example of software that takes advantage of new Apple devices.
Source: Bloomberg / Brad Colbow | Feature Image: Apple / Gerry Kingsley
