Adobe announces plans to pull Photoshop Touch from the App Store next week

Adobe has announced today that it is discontinuing its Photoshop Touch apps for the iPhone and iPad and will remove them from the App Store next week on Thursday, May 28.

You’ll be able to purchase the $4.99 iPhone/iPod touch app and $9.99 iPad/iPad mini title until then. After that date, Adobe won’t be supporting the apps any longer with updates for bug fixes and iOS improvements. But users can still download the apps from their purchase history.

If you’re interested, Adobe has posted a support document that answers some questions about the decision.

The company offered a quick explanation about the move in a blog post:

Helping you find success quickly means giving you the right tools for the job and the very best technology and access. When we introduced Photoshop Touch several years ago, it was an all-in-one solution that mirrored the desktop version of Photoshop. But today, we believe that our new mobile solutions, when connected together and to the desktop, vastly expand creative possibilities.

Instead of the all-in-one convenience that Photoshop Touch provided users, Adobe touted its line of Creative Cloud apps for iOS users like Adobe Photoshop Mix and others.

But Adobe also offered a sneak preview of a forthcoming retouching app for mobile devices, named Project Rigel. Here’s a preview video. Click here if you can’t see it.

That app is scheduled to arrive sometime in late 2015.

While Photoshop Touch is a great app, I’m not surprised to see Adobe make the change as it continues to steer customers to its more powerful (and profitable) Creative Cloud services.

For other app news today, see: Kwilt’s radical facelift improves both the user interface and experience, Strap on your skis and hit the slopes in Skiing Yeti Mountain, and Build your ultimate battle deck with Earthcore: Shattered Elements.