One of the few apps that Android tablets have enjoyed for the past several months, which the iPad tablet has not, has been Adobe’s Photoshop Touch.

 

Thankfully, that dismal state of affairs for creative iPad users has now come to an end, as Adobe has finally released its app for the iOS platform.

 

The app, which was launched at Mobile World Congress, taking place in Barcelona, Spain, is however only available for the iPad 2 (sorry, iPad 1 users) and requires iOS 5. The good news though, is that the app is still as affordably priced on Apple’s app store as it was on Android market, at $10 (R75).

 

The company explained that, as on its Android version, Photoshop Touch enables users to “combine multiple photos into layered images, make essential edits and apply professional effects to create beautiful artwork, touch up photos, paint and lay out ideas.”  

 

 

 

The app apparently boasts the core features found in its bigger brother desktop version, including layers, selection tools, adjustments, and filters. Indeed, one of the key steps of photo-compositing is making selections and extracting portions of an image. To this end, the Refine Edge feature enables users to capture typically hard-to-select areas, such as those with soft edges.

 

That’s not to say it’s exactly the same as the PC version of Photoshop though, as the Photoshop app has been designed with a touch interface in mind.

 

For example, a Scribble Selection Tool allows users to extract objects in an image by simply scribbling on what to keep and, then, what to remove. Additionally, the app integrates with Google image search and Facebook to more easily find and share images respectively.

 

 

While the app launch for iOS is certainly a welcome one, it still looks like iPad users have a slightly longer wait ahead of them for Adobe’s other touch apps.

 

The company gave a rather vague allusion to “the coming months” for when we can expect Adobe Collage (moodboard generation), Adobe Debut (creative presentation), Adobe Kuler (creating colour themes) and Adobe Proto (website and mobile app prototyping) to join Photoshop Touch.