Adobe aims to establish itself as more of a service platform today with a focus on mobile first and the largest overhaul of Creative Cloud desktop applications to date.

All 14 desktop applications in Adobe’s creative suite get an upgrade. The company is also introducing a new Creative SDK library for mobile developers, five new mobile apps, and two pieces of hardware to use for precision graphics on iPad.

The best way to share a bit more about all these updates and new tools is to give you an organized, in-depth run-down, right here and now:

5 New Mobile Apps

Five new mobile apps are now available on iPhone: Adobe Sketch, Adobe Line, Photoshop Mix, Lightroom for iPhone and Creative Cloud for iPad and iPhone.

Adobe Sketch offers digital tools such as a graphite pencil and pen for precision drawing. It also incorporates a social element so users can share their work with the Adobe Creative Cloud community and get live feedback.

Adobe Line is a drawing app for iPad that will give users the capability to work out creative ideas just like they would using paper and pen. Most creatives start on paper and then transfer to wireframes. This is the modern equivalent of an age-old method in digital form.

Photoshop Mix is like Photoshop redux made for iPad. The idea is that users can edit PSD images and tap into the cloud while working with creative projects on the go. Features include Upright, Content Aware Fill and Camera Shake Reduction.

Lightroom simply extends recently shipped mobile capabilities to iPhone. An iPad video app, Adobe Voice has also been updated to work with Lightroom on your smartphone.

Creative Cloud for iPad and iPhone – Just like on the desktop, designers can now access Creative Cloud on their iOS devices.

Adobe Sketch, Line and Photoshop Mix are free applications available in the App Store.

Adobe Creative SDK

The Creative SDK is a software library that is privy only to select developers at the moment. Users will be able to access the library resources to build mobile apps off of elements from PSD files. Developers will also be able to tap into shared files and image editing services in the cloud such as Content-aware Fill and Upright in Photoshop. Look for the beta launch of the Creative SDK in a couple of months.

New Hardware

The new hardware, connected to Adobe’s mobile apps for iPad, include Adobe Ink and Adobe Slide.

Ink is a three-sided digital stylus for any iPad running iOS 7. It enables a finer precision for controlled drawing. The stylus is fine-tipped and pressure sensitive and connects to a users assets on the Creative Cloud.

Slide, meant as a companion to Ink, is a ruler enabling precision sketching such as straight lines and perfect circles, much like traditional graphic rulers were used before computer graphics and desktop publishing. Just like Ink, Slide works with iPad running iOS 7.

The improved hardware comes as a bundle at $199 and is available for purchase in the U.S. only for now.

Desktop Application Updates

Adobe made the biggest overhaul to their creative suite of apps for desktop. The key innovations here are focused on making a faster and easier workflow for artists. They also incorporate support for new hardware standards. For instance, Muse took a complete rebuild as a 64-bit app, Illustrator now gets faster vector rendering and artists using InDesign can use and EPUB layout to create digital books.

Photographers will see many welcome updates in several applications as well. Photoshop gets new Blur Gallery motion effects to create a sense of movement in the photo, Focus Mask to make shots with shallow depth of field, such as portraits, stand out.

New Creative Cloud offerings for Enterprise, Education and Photographers

Creative Cloud now has an offering for business organizations. It will integrate with other offerings such as Marketing Cloud, Acrobat and the Digital Publishing Suite.

Adobe also now offers device-based licensing for educational institutions, as opposed to the old individual log-in method.

The Creative Cloud photography plan can now be separated out, as well. It’s priced at $9.99 per month for professionals using the Adobe photography suite of services. This includes both mobile and desktop photography apps, such as Lightroom and Photoshop.

All hardware, desktop and mobile apps will be connected to the Creative Cloud of services for on the go design capabilities. All upgrades are free to those already on the Creative Cloud subscription service and the new mobile apps are free to everyone with an iPhone.

To see what all the hardware looks like and how it functions, there’s also this video:

