Adobe Flash for Mobile Rides Into the Sunset; Mobile Flash Development No More

[dgstorm]

There have been several rumors around the web today that Adobe will no longer be developing Flash for mobile devices. These reports have proven to be true, as Adobe has posted on their own website confirming it. Apparently, this move will allow Adobe to focus on assisting with HTML5 development. They noted that they will continue to support the current Flash for mobile devices, but only for bug fixes and security updates. Also, this does not effect the PC side of things, and Adobe will continue to develop future versions of Flash for that platform. Here is a quote from their official statement,

Our future work with Flash on mobile devices will be focused on enabling Flash developers to package native apps with Adobe AIR for all the major app stores. We will no longer continue to develop Flash Player in the browser to work with new mobile device configurations (chipset, browser, OS version, etc.) following the upcoming release of Flash Player 11.1 for Android and BlackBerry PlayBook. We will of course continue to provide critical bug fixes and security updates for existing device configurations. We will also allow our source code licensees to continue working on and release their own implementations.

These changes will allow us to increase investment in HTML5 and innovate with Flash where it can have most impact for the industry, including advanced gaming and premium video. Flash Player 11 for PC browsers just introduced dozens of new features, including hardware accelerated 3D graphics for console-quality gaming and premium HD video with content protection. Flash developers can take advantage of these features, and all that our Flash tooling has to offer, to reach more than a billion PCs through their browsers and to package native apps with AIR that run on hundreds of millions of mobile devices through all the popular app stores, including the iTunes App Store, Android Market, Amazon Appstore for Android and BlackBerry App World.

You can read their full statement at the source link below.

Source: Adobe Blog

 

[NeoandGeo]

Good. Flash is crap and needs to die since newer graphically intensive apps run like horse crap unless you have top of the line hardware

 

[NoBloatware]

Adobe will be leaving further implementation to their source code licensees meaning that Adobe is passing the cost of development (porting Flash to new devices) to the makers of those devices. This doesn't necessarily mean that Flash will disappear from Androids any time soon.

It's funny to me how this is now being described by some as a "major blow to Android" when I bet those same people said "Flash runs horribly on Android, burns battery, is a security risk, and Apple has it right."

They were wrong and they're still wrong. Flash runs very well on the Android devices that I've tried. I set it to run on demand so it only uses battery power when I want it to--not for every advertisement, tracking object. There are probably Flash security vulnerabilities but I'm not sure how they'd do against UNIX (Android) and since I choose when to run Flash, the chances of such a thing are pretty low. My friends with Apple products--and there are fewer as times goes on because people wise up eventually--are simply S.O.L. when it comes to using the web sometimes. I don't particularly like Flash, but I like that I'm able to use it when I want it.

 

[561427]

What will this do for the mobile market? Does another company get the call and steps up to develop flash? or will something new be implemented? what about youtube on mobile that is flash? I dont get it. I just thought that adobe had a HUGE monopoly that everyone went along with what they said and they brought video to web pages.

 

[NoBloatware]

What will this do for the mobile market? Does another company get the call and steps up to develop flash? or will something new be implemented? what about youtube on mobile that is flash? I dont get it. I just thought that adobe had a HUGE monopoly that everyone went along with what they said and they brought video to web pages.

Adobe says that they will no longer port Flash to new devices. It is now up to phone manufacturers to license Adobe's code (pay Adobe) if they want to make sure that Flash runs well, if at all, on their phones. Some companies may drop Flash compatibility. Adobe is hoping that customers will expect Flash on their phones and that manufacturers will be forced to pay Adobe.

Would people care if their brand new Android phone didn't support Flash? Many people will care so I bet that at least some manufacturers will pay Adobe. A lot of people say Flash is dying and that HTML5 is the future. They forget that, like it or not, Flash videos, games, apps, etc. aren't just going to disappear overnight. Thousands of sites will continue to use Flash for years to come.

The bottom line is that Adobe has decided to cash in on something. We shouldn't be surprised if some Android phones come without Flash in the future.

 

[sarreq]

not exactly sad to see it go, should have gone years ago, unfortunately it became ubiquitous instead. it was a complete pain, and hindered Web standards. specifically, i remember trying to ask for the addition of .MNG/.JNG support to firefox, and the main argument against it was either "it would cause code bloat" (~600KB to a 12MB program? code bloat?) or "why do we need this when we have Flash?" (oh, i don't know, open standards?).

 

[sarreq]

what about youtube on mobile that is flash?

YouTube on Android (and most likely iOS) is already HTML5, you don't need flash to view it (unless you're talking about a 3rd party site using the out of date embedding code out of (bad) habit)

what you're really gonna have to worry about are all the sites who use their own proprietary flash video players, like engadget and vimeo no longer being available to smartphones and tablets.