Adobe Photoshop Touch hits iPad 2 for US$9.99 (Update: Back up!)

Note – Photoshop Touch just started hitting AU/NZ. Update: It was pulled, but it is back ($9.99 at iTunes)

Photoshop maker Adobe Systems, Inc., released a long-expected iPad companion aptly named “Photoshop Touch.” The Android version demonstrated at Maxx earlier this year and released shortly afterwards.

The first in a series of six touch-optimized apps (the other five are Collage, Debut, Ideas, Kuler and Proto), it supports Photoshop layers—arguably the basic and most-oft used Photoshop feature. With simple finger gestures, users can combine multiple photos into layered images, make popular edits, and apply professional effects. It also provides advanced selection tools and adjustments.

According to Adobe’s website, the tablet-exclusive Scribble Selection Tool lets you extract objects in an image by simply scribbling on what to keep and then what to remove. With Refine Edge technology from Adobe Photoshop, even hard-to-select areas with soft edges, such as hair, are easily captured when making selections. Photoshop Touch also plays nice with Creative Cloud—a brand new paid cloud storage service from Adobe for seamless sync of your Photoshop files between desktop and iPad.

Social sharing is also supported through Facebook or email. You can also import images from Facebook, Google Image Search, and your iPad’s camera roll. Photoshop Touch works only on iPad 2 and requires iOS 5. The app is a $9.99 download from the App Store. Photoshop Touch became available on Android devices last November.

Screenshots and three demo clips are below.