It looks like Steve Jobs was right about Flash on the mobile web after all…
We just heard word this morning that Adobe Systems has done a complete about face on its position on Flash for the mobile web as the company has (sort of) announced that it is ceasing development of Flash for mobile browsers to focus on packaging up Flash apps into stand-alone Adobe AIR applications as well as HTML 5.
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 adapt Flash Player for mobile devices to new browser, OS version or device configurations. Some of our source code licensees may opt to continue working on and releasing their own implementations. We will continue to support the current Android and PlayBook configurations with critical bug fixes and security updates.
One of the selling points of the BlackBerry PlayBook was that it would support Flash. Well, it does, and, actually does a fairly decent job at it. Sites like Hulu and NetFlix would work just fine on the PlayBook if those companies didn’t actively block the device. I have dozens of Flash game websites bookmarked on my PlayBook.
I completely understand why Adobe is killing off Flash. HTML 5 is the wave of the future. I just wonder if doing so now makes every tablet and smartphone manufacturer that pushed Flash just took a tiny little step backwords in their battle with Apple?
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