Adobe targets iPad and Android tablet users with Creative Cloud

Adobe has unveiled a cloud-based initiative aimed at giving creative professionals access to applications and helping them to collaborate and share their work.

Announced at Adobe's MAX 2011 technology conference, Creative Cloud is intended to become an online hub for creativity, providing access to cloud-based services through which users can share files and view them across different devices, with an eye on tablets such as Apple's iPad.

To this end, Adobe also announced Touch Apps, a set of six touch-screen design applications for the iPad and Android tablets, which are designed for finger and stylus input, freeing creative users from the desktop or laptop computers for the first time, according to the firm.

The initial six apps consist of PhotoShop Touch, Collage, Debut, Ideas, Kuler and Proto, which have been inspired by the application set in Adobe's desktop Creative Suite. These offer a mix of capabilities, from image editing and sketching to web site and mobile app prototyping, Adobe said.

Android users will be able to get their hands on the Touch Apps from November, while the Apple versions are expected early in 2012, apart from Ideas which is already available.

The Touch Apps will be available as standalone tools, but Adobe intends them to be used in conjunction with Creative Cloud, which will provide members with 20GB of storage for their output. Adobe said that Creative Cloud will also synchronise with Creative Suite apps.

Adobe chief technology officer Kevin Lynch said that Creative Cloud will play a major part in the transformation of Adobe.

"Adobe Creative Cloud reinvents creative expression by enabling a new generation of services for creativity and publishing that embrace touch interaction to re-imagine how individuals interact with creative tools and build deeper social connections between creatives around the world," he explained.

Creative Cloud membership will not be available until early 2012, but Adobe is expected to give further details, including pricing, in November. It is likely to be charged on a monthly subscription basis.

Adobe also announced it is acquiring Nitobi Software, developer of the PhoneGap tool for building cross-platform mobile applications with HTML5 and JavaScript.

Adobe said that PhoneGap will complement its Flash and AIR tools for developers wanting to create applications that run across a number of mobile platforms.