“Adobe is all about enabling designers and developers to create the most expressive content possible, regardless of platform or technology. For more than a decade, Flash has enabled the richest content to be created and deployed on the web by reaching beyond what browsers could do. It has repeatedly served as a blueprint for standardizing new technologies in HTML.  Over the past two years, we’ve delivered Flash Player for mobile browsers and brought the full expressiveness of the web to many mobile devices.

However, HTML5 is now universally supported on major mobile devices, in some cases exclusively.  This makes HTML5 the best solution for creating and deploying content in the browser across mobile platforms. We are excited about this, and will continue our work with key players in the HTML community, including Google, Apple, Microsoft and RIM, to drive HTML5 innovation they can use to advance their mobile browsers.”

Developers of current Flash sites and applications will be able to be repackage their Flash content using Adobe Air. This is very good news for the industry because, after a period of adoption and transformation, all mobile devices will be able to view all web sites in [nearly] the same fashion. More from Adobe:

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.

Some contribute the recent announcement by Adobe to an open letter that the late Steve Jobs published in April, 2010 entitled “Thoughts on Flash.” In that letter Jobs stated that while Flash was a good, marketable choice for Adobe, he believed that they should instead put more effort into adopting a higher degree of HTML5 support.

So what should we think; is Adobe moving ahead or giving into the technology advancements of mobile devices? With these changes coming quickly, does this mean that Apple will sell even more iPads and iPhones, now that Flash will no longer be a factor? Is there any reason that Adobe shouldn’t do this? Let us know what you think in the comments below.

On April 11th 2011, Adobe Systems Incorporated announced the release of Adobe Flash Builder 4.5 and Flex 4.5. Today Adobe has released the updates to the Flash Builder and Flex 4.5 framework including all new tooling and framework support that will enable developers to reuse most or all of their code across applications that target multiple platforms, including Web, desktop, Android, and as of today’s update BlackBerry Tablet OS and iOS.

Building a native application for each of these devices would not have been financially feasible but now moving an application across different mobile platforms often can be as simple as a recompile.

Developing applications on the Adobe Flash Platform enables developers to deliver consistent application experiences across multiple browsers and operating systems. Adobe Flash Platform (Flex & Flash Builder) also provides a common path to creating applications for both desktop and multiple mobile platforms, therefore significantly reducing the time and cost associated with development and testing.

With the greatly increasing use of smartphones and tablets in our daily lives, enterprises now need to ensure that their applications will work seamlessly across many different types of computers and handheld devices. With these latest releases and efforts, Adobe has delivered somewhat of a breakthrough development platform for creating mobile, web and desktop applications.

Benefits of Adobe Flex applications:

Some benefits to developers using Flex:

• It accelerates development as developers can reuse code.
• It assists flexible development and provides visual development environment for applications on multiple platforms.
• Developers can easily build highly interactive web applications.
• Adobe AIR uses the same proven, cost-effective technologies used to build web applications, so development and deployment are rapid and low risk.

Now let’s take a look at how Adobe Flex applications are good for Business point of view:

• Adobe AIR offers an exciting new way to engage customers with innovative, branded applications, without requiring changes to existing technology or processes.
• With the Adobe AIR runtime, businesses can deliver branded rich Internet applications (RIAs) outside the browser that give them a closer connection to their customer.
• By using Adobe AIR as part of RIA strategy, businesses can boost productivity, extend their market reach, enhance customer satisfaction, improve customer retention, lower costs, and increase profits.

It seems as long as they get it running stable and work with the developers, this could be just what’s needed to help create more quality apps, in a market flooded with useless ones. Not to mention the effect it should have in speeding up the time for apps and games to be released across platforms.

Do you think this is a wise move on Adobe’s part?
How do you feel this will help or hurt the mobile application industry?
Will we see an increase in quality apps on all platforms?
Will this reduce the amount of poorly attempted ported apps we see across platforms nowadays?

source: blogs.adobe.com

Adobe also announced that a beta of Flash Player 10.1 was made available to content providers and mobile developers worldwide. With the general availability expected in the first half of 2010, Flash Player 10.1 is the first consistent runtime release of the Open Screen Project enabling uncompromised Web browsing of expressive applications, content and high definition (HD) videos across screens including new tablet devices, smartphones, netbooks, smartbooks, desktops and other consumer electronics. According to a Strategy Analytics analysis from January 2010, more than 250 million smartphones are expected to support the full Flash Player by the end 2012. Mobile platforms that will support the full Flash Player include Android, the BlackBerry® platform, Symbian® OS, Palm® webOS and Windows Mobile®. Partners from across the ecosystem commented on the progress of Flash Player 10.1 today.