Apple's Phil Schiller Talks About Upcoming Photoshop for iPad App at Adobe MAX

[Feenician]

Office is pretty good on iPad. In a bunch of ways I like it better than the desktop. There’s an awful lot of junk in the desktop version that doesn’t get used very often. And I’ve used word since back in the ti-99/4a days, when you used the escape key to trigger the “transfer” menu. User interface on iPad is a lot more consistent than the “sometimes you need a menu, sometimes a right click, sometimes a ribbon” think on the desktop.

I agree in a lot of ways. It’s very clean, because they wrote a nice clean core around the document format code. However there are still a lot of very basic features missing and they are quite arbitrary, and quite crippling. For example you can edit a table of contents, but not insert a new one. There isn’t a performance or complexity argument for that. I work around most of these types of issues by having a standard template that includes them and I add or remove them as need. But still, it needs to get better. If we can have the Affinity apps, and we can have Photoshop, we can certainly accommodate a full featured Office.

 

[VictorTango777]

I foresee a desktop iPad in the near future. Some apps require large surfaces. Audio may be one of those. A 27” tabletop iPad might be the solution for audio pros. I have a 12.9” iPad Pro which suffices for photography — it’s effectively like working directly on an 8 x 10 print. For video (Final Cut Pro X of iOS), it may be that the next generation iPad Pro with USB-C external display support might do the trick with video on the screen and the timeline on the iPad but I think that a very large desktop iPad might be needed to convert professional video editors. That USB-C will solve the I/O problem that you mention. You’ll be able to plug any audio devices into an iPad Pro that you plug into your Mac today.

If iOS/macOS would include full support for external multitouch monitors, then people could connect an external touch screen of any size and not be limited to the screen sizes provided by Apple. It would also open up iOS/macOS to use cases for which a 10 inch "iPad on a stand" is inadequate.

http://www.planar.com/products/touch-displays/

Do people honestly expect Apple to make a 40 inch iPad?

 

[Shiro_Simba]

There are easily two to three times the number of iPads in circulation compared to Macs. In terms of sheer numbers, the iPad is too large a platform to ignore.

In that , I’d say 99.999999% are used for consumption. Pro is a small number of overall iPads.

And the iPad is suppose to be a PC replacement , if you include PC and macs, it’s a very very niche product that is being ignored for content creation . Most iPad Pro users , have it for consumption .

It’s one of the best content consumers , and works great for light home user workflow revolving around social media . You don’t need a Mac to modify an image to post online to email.

 

[nihil0]

Apple and adobe in bed - Apple is becoming a friendly Microsoft , smile and wave boys .... smile and wave

Not sure what you mean, Adobe software was originally developed for Apple computers and only later ported to Windows.

 

[AgentAnonymous]

Make no mistake: Adobe sees the future and migrating its flagship application to iPad is an endorsement of the device as where the industry will be in for the long term.

The future of professional photography post production is on the iPad and the iPhone, not the Mac. We’ve all seen the resistance to this concept every time someone says that the iPad is a consumption device. Yet, as a professional photographer, I’ve been living it and proving them wrong. I’ve been using my iPad Pro as my primary editing device for 2 years now. I didn’t replace my MacBook Pro and let it sit in a drawer (haven’t seen it in months).

What makes this possible is Adobe Cloud. Cloud editing is seriously fantastic for a professional. I shoot, then wirelessly upload from my camera to my iPhone X on location. I do some culling on my iPhone X, edit and share a few photos from the field, then get to my iPad Pro back in my studio where the photos are waiting for me with the applied edits. I do most of the editing work on the iPad Pro, directly manipulating photos, then swiping to the next one. It’s way faster than a mouse based process. I go to my iMac to finalize everything and upload the photos to my site with a plugin, ready for the client to download. If I notice something after uploading and make any changes on any of my devices, the files on my site also update.

It works seamlessly and incredibly well, with each device used according to its strengths. Increasingly, the Mac has fewer and fewer advantages over the iPad Pro in this workflow. I spend the least amount of time on my iMac, using it only for local storage and uploading hi-res files to my site. It’s a step I can skip when I decide to go full Cloud.

Adobe isn't "migrating" it's flagship application. They just have the resources to offer it on other platforms too. It's a desktop application that requires a mouse and everyone knows it, but Adobe isn't going to skip the opportunity to cash in on tablet users so they'll put some people on it and release an iPad version too. However to make it work with fingers you have to dumb the UI down and start compromising, which is also something everyone knows.

Tablets are toys for watching Youtube and surfing the web, and the iPad is no different. Just because you use one at a net loss of productivity, possibly to justify your investment, doesn't mean that it isn't. The only valid niche for a tablet is drawing, but Photoshop isn't for drawing it's for editing.

Deciding to do photoshop on an iPad means you get a significantly smaller screen, a significantly slower experience due to a cellphone processor that throttles itself easily, and of course it becomes much more difficult to interface with the inevitably dumbed down UI, because you lose your keyboard and cursor. There's literally zero advantage.

 

[Bacillus]

Adobe isn't "migrating" it's flagship application. They just have the resources to offer it on other platforms too. It's a desktop application that requires a mouse and everyone knows it, but Adobe isn't going to skip the opportunity to cash in on tablet users so they'll put some people on it and release an iPad version too. However to make it work with fingers you have to dumb the UI down and start compromising, which is also something everyone knows.

Tablets are toys for watching Youtube and surfing the web, and the iPad is no different. Just because you use one at a net loss of productivity, possibly to justify your investment, doesn't mean that it isn't. The only valid niche for a tablet is drawing, but Photoshop isn't for drawing it's for editing.

Deciding to do photoshop on an iPad means you get a significantly smaller screen, a significantly slower experience due to a cellphone processor that throttles itself easily, and of course it becomes much more difficult to interface with the inevitably dumbed down UI, because you lose your keyboard and cursor. There's literally zero advantage.

This is their #1 goal in their strategy for this decade: to phase out MacOS in favor of iOS. When they get most photo+media apps running in the iPad, they’ll reach the goal. And it’s their #1 goal because Apple bases its current business in services, and iOS is great for getting money from services (the user has less control/freedom), while MacOS is not as profitable for such task (the user has more control/freedom, so more chances for avoiding services).

Exactly the 2 reasons that I skip these events and keynotes.
I can’t control myself anymore with this content Philler on stage.

 

[AgentAnonymous]

Photoshop (the older versions) used to run just fine with less than a GB of RAM. (Heck it used to run on a system with 128 MB of Ram). Professionals the world over used it (with less than 1 GB of ram) in their computers to create billboards, movie posters, magazine editing etc etc.

There's only one reason that Adobe didn't port photoshop to iOS years ago. They just didn't want to.

Or maybe because it's not 2001 anymore? Just because iOS can, in your view, run the Photoshop from 15-20 years ago doesn't mean it can run modern Photoshop.

 

[Bacillus]

Imagine instead - a 2018 iPad Pro connected to a USB-C monitor and the aforementioned iPP laying at 75 degrees on an angled stand/dock introduced at the same time, along with the ability for the USB-C monitor to show the content, while the tools stay on the iPP screen, easily manipulated using the Pencil and an Apple Magic Keyboard via Bluetooth, similar to the way a designer might use a Wacom tablet instead. Maybe the iPP lays flat, maybe angled...depends on your preference, and it’s running Premiere Rush and Photoshop. Maybe a fantasy or maybe it’s a reality closer than we think.

Duh. Then I only see a glass trackpad (/TouchBar?) labeled “iPad” to my current setup.
And lots of lost precision & compromises

 

[Abazigal]

https://thesweetsetup.com/using-ipad-photography-workflows/

https://thesweetsetup.com/my-ipad-photography-workflow/

In case people are wondering how the iPad is factoring more and more into photography workflows.

It’s a slow burn, but let’s not pretend this isn’t happening.

 

[mazz0]

If they really want to push iPad as a proper computer replacement how about Xcode?

 

[FasterQuieter]

Lightroom CC plus 1TB cloud storage uses the $9.99 a month I am willing to part with to use their services. I had to let Photoshop go under this new option. Somehow I doubt they'll include Photoshop CC under my limited plan, but fingers crossed.

 

[asiga]

Lol, most iOS users are clueless there are workarounds on the platform, though not quite as open as macOS. The only apps I have ever paid for on the AppStore are through gift cards received as presents and could not trade it in for equal cash.

AppStore can eat dust as far as it concerns me.

Of course there are workarounds for trying to escape from the lack of freedom in iOS, but Apple usually kills more and more workarounds in every new iOS version, because that's the concept behind iOS: it shouldn't give the user the same power a computer does, but just become a "computer" managed by Apple (it's Apple who decides that facial recognition cannot be turned off in the Photos app, it's Apple who decides that the "you have a new memory" notification cannot be turned off, it's Apple who decides that you must update the iOS version --yes, there's the profile hack workaround, but it can be killed at anytime by Apple).

iOS is about that: You cannot decide as much as with a computer. And that's a golden dream when you sell services... what better scenario for selling services than when your user has no total freedom over the computer? (Android is even worse, it's not a matter of iOS vs Android, but vendor-controlled vs user-controlled).

They are approaching the goal in a very aggressive way, both by getting complete pro apps into iOS, and by "dumbing" the Mac (like not being able to clean a 2018 MBP shutdown because it boots as soon as you press any key in the keyboard).

I honestly think that if things don't change, the only real escape for those of us who love computers is going to be UNIX-like open source OSs. The rest is going to be just dumb "auto devices", because that's what the market wants, dumb devices controlled by the brand rather than you (and the sad thing is when you see quite a number of users jumping into the bandwagon without thinking what they are losing by mortgaging their life through online services that they shouldn't depend on).

 

[Steve121178]

Adobe might be too late on this. Myself and everyone else I know has moved onto Affinity Photo.

Adobe and their suite of products remains the industry standard.

I don't understand the hate for Adobe's subscription model either. It costs me around £75 a year for their 'Photograph plan', or I could pay monthly. For that I get Photoshop, Lightroom CC & Lightroom classic. I also think Adobe give me 20GB storage (which I never use). I can also install the apps on my iPad & iPhone which are tied to my Adobe account.

Photoshop used to cost over £700 on its own and it would be out of date within 6 months. The subscription always means I have the latest version at no additional cost.

It's a good deal.

 

[asiga]

If they really want to push iPad as a proper computer replacement how about Xcode?

Xcode must not be too far away. They are pushing hard. They need everybody on iOS for having bigger profits. My guess is that a preliminary version of Xcode for the iPad Pro is already being tested somewhere within Apple.

 

[FairlyKors]

There's another reason I for one don't like adobe, it litters you Mac with files all over the place.
Is it so hard to just follow normal App guidelines, like all files included in the App, preferences in one place and one support folder, seems not, there's plenty more folders where Adobe files are found.
I find their Apps "viruses".

You may have no idea what Adobe CC does to a PC, but it’s ugly. At any given time there are six to seven programs running in the background (all significant— and doing who knows what) whether you’re using CC or not. It was so bad when I finally quit CC, that were I ever to subscribe to Adobe again (not likely) I would buy a separate couple hard drives and another copy of Windows, just to keep its 1,001 tentacles out of my OS.

I constantly hear that CC isn’t as good on a Mac, and I wonder if that’s because Apple doesn’t let Adobe have free reign of their OS? The better Davinci Resolve and FCPX get (in addition to really powerful, inexpensive and super intuitive programs like Affinity) the more and more Adobe truly looks like a waste of time, money and an unnecessary source of major headaches. (Like not having access to your work if you’re not paying for a subscription. That’s just crazy in this day and age, IMHO.)

 

[jonnysods]

Sorry Phil and Adobe - affinity photo beat you guys to it...

 

[Bacillus]

If they really want to push iPad as a proper computer replacement how about Xcode?

Don’t get Pro if Tim wants you to be a cappuchino Pro...

 

[ipponrg]

Adobe isn't "migrating" it's flagship application. They just have the resources to offer it on other platforms too. It's a desktop application that requires a mouse and everyone knows it, but Adobe isn't going to skip the opportunity to cash in on tablet users so they'll put some people on it and release an iPad version too. However to make it work with fingers you have to dumb the UI down and start compromising, which is also something everyone knows.

Tablets are toys for watching Youtube and surfing the web, and the iPad is no different. Just because you use one at a net loss of productivity, possibly to justify your investment, doesn't mean that it isn't. The only valid niche for a tablet is drawing, but Photoshop isn't for drawing it's for editing.

Deciding to do photoshop on an iPad means you get a significantly smaller screen, a significantly slower experience due to a cellphone processor that throttles itself easily, and of course it becomes much more difficult to interface with the inevitably dumbed down UI, because you lose your keyboard and cursor. There's literally zero advantage.

Certain people will continue to rationalize that the iPad will replace a laptop/desktop experience because apparently their simple use case justifies it

Adobe has been hurting in profits in recent years, so this is another way for them to get some cash. It’s one of the reasons they went to a subscription model as well

 

[Brammy]

Office is pretty good on iPad. In a bunch of ways I like it better than the desktop

At best Office is decent. Word is fine for light document work, but there are a lot of basic-level tools not available in the iOS version.

 

[2013.1]

[...]really powerful, inexpensive and super intuitive programs like Affinity[...]

Yes. Thank you.
[doublepost=1539696422][/doublepost]

Adobe and their suite of products remains the industry standard.

I don't understand the hate for Adobe's subscription model either. It costs me around £75 a year for their 'Photograph plan', or I could pay monthly. For that I get Photoshop, Lightroom CC & Lightroom classic. I also think Adobe give me 20GB storage (which I never use). I can also install the apps on my iPad & iPhone which are tied to my Adobe account.

Photoshop used to cost over £700 on its own and it would be out of date within 6 months. The subscription always means I have the latest version at no additional cost.

It's a good deal.

You got that deal just after massiv protest out of the photo communities.
For me as an user of Illustrator, Indesign, Photoshop etc the deal was not that good. My spendings per year would have doubled and I would virtually have rented my own work from Adobe due to being shut out of it if something happens to my relationship with them. (Files on own hard disk are useless without software to open it eg. Indesign)

 

[Abazigal]

If they really want to push iPad as a proper computer replacement how about Xcode?

The iPad is intended as the general purpose computer for the mass consumer. Most people are not app developers and as such do not need x code because they will not be creating apps ever, even if the device is technically capable of running it.

There is still the MBP and iMac Pro for all the powerful tasks the iPad cannot handle.

 

[2013.1]

It’s Adobe which means subscription, which means no thank you. I’ll eventually learn affinity photo instead when time permits etc.

It is so easy. Every layer is just smart out of the box. Almost everything is live and shown while editing. A lot of shortcuts are the same. Very fast even on old machines.
[doublepost=1539697067][/doublepost]

Well did you expect them to just give away their program for free?

Weren't you around the time when Adobe had a business model without subscription?

 

[iapplelove]

Weren't you around the time when Adobe had a business model without subscription?

And how did that work out for them? Have to go back aways..

 

[cmaier]

And how did that work out for them? Have to go back aways..

The skyscraper it bought them in downtown San Jose says it worked out pretty well for them.

 

[2013.1]

[...] content aware fill [...]

Not yet with Affinity but I'm ok with the repair tool. Affinity software has the same feature set on iPad and Mac and Windows. Designer an Photo are awesome. Publisher is in beta.