Adobe extends Photoshop to mobile phones
Photoshop.com Mobile lets people upload and view photos shot with several Windows phones. The subtext here: Adobe is trying to funnel people to its Photoshop site.
- Shankland covered the tech industry for more than 25 years and was a science writer for five years before that. He has deep expertise in microprocessors, digital photography, computer hardware and software, internet standards, web technology, and more.
Adobe Systems has gradually extended its Photoshop brand from its beginnings as high-end image-editing tool to its Elements consumer-oriented photo software and its Express online photo-editing site.
Now, the company has begun taking the next step with Photoshop.com Mobile (see
This software lets people upload photos from their phones to Photoshop.com and view photo albums stored online, according to the site. The beta software, a free download for people in the United States, works on several Windows Mobile-based handsets.
If your device isn't supported, Adobe recommends using Shozu mobile phone software, which lets people upload photos, among other things.
Personally, I'd like to see a mobile phone app that could perform some really basic adjustments--cropping or auto-fixing exposure, for example. But, so far at least, this isn't that application. However, Photoshop itself is about to enter its 11th major version, CS4, and mobile phones are getting more powerful all the time, so the possibility is there.
But more likely, Adobe sees this software as a tool to increase its customers' online activity. Photoshop Express can be used for those sorts of adjustments, although even high-powered phones such as Apple's iPhone can't use it yet. But with gradually increasing network capacity and mobile-phone processing, this market will become much more mature in a few years.
For a few cautions and further details about Photoshop.com Mobile, see the release notes.
Update at 8:23 a.m. PDT: Shozu sent out an announcement of its own, saying its software lets 350 different cell phones upload pictures to Photoshop.com. The software also works with Facebook, WordPress, and Google's Blogger, and can send photos to multiple e-mail addresses.