Adobe to respond to Apple by giving employees Android phones with Flash

Posted:
in iPhone edited January 2014
Following Apple CEO Steve Jobs' public attack on Flash this week, Adobe is now reportedly planning to give its employees Android phones running Flash.



Three sources familiar with Adobe's plans told CNet that Adobe plans to give its employees mobile phones powered by Google's Android mobile operating system, and running a new mobile version of Flash created for the platform. Adobe reportedly has not yet decided which Android phone it will give its employees, though "various HTC phones and the Nexus One" were specifically mentioned.



"In the time-honored technology industry practice of 'dog-fooding' one's own products, Adobe and Google want to encourage employees to spend as much time using Android and the Flash Player 10.1 as possible," authors Tom Krazit and Stephen Shankland wrote.



They added: "It's also not clear if this will be a perk just for developers or for the entire company: Adobe had about 8,600 employees worldwide at the end of last November."



Adobe plans to formally introduce Flash 10.1 for Android at Google's I/O conference in May. Google also reportedly has plans to give every attendee either a Motorola Droid or a Nexus One, two high-profile handsets running Android.



The company's alleged plans were revealed just days after Apple's Jobs slammed Adobe Flash in a public letter, saying that the Web format is unfit for the modern era. Flash was created for PCs with mice and keyboards, Jobs argued, but it is not fit for use on devices in the "mobile era." Apple has not allowed Flash onto its iPhone OS, which powers the iPhone, iPod touch and iPad.



After Jobs' comments were published on Thursday, Adobe CEO Shantanu Narayen fired back and dismissed the Apple co-founder's claims that Flash is the source of most crashes in Mac OS X. Narayen said Jobs' comments were a "smokescreen," and some of his claims, such as Flash resulting in poorer battery life of mobile devices, were "patently false."
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Comments

  • Reply 1 of 136
    Umm? why does this help at all?
  • Reply 2 of 136
    ranreloadedranreloaded Posts: 397member
    OMG here we go again...



    THIS IS SPARTA!!!
  • Reply 3 of 136
    alandailalandail Posts: 755member
    so they admit they don't have flash available for phones yet, just like Steve said?
  • Reply 4 of 136
    brookstbrookst Posts: 62member
    Sucks to be an Adobe employee about now. Hopefully they're not forced to actually *use* the Android phone.
  • Reply 5 of 136
    MacProMacPro Posts: 19,727member
    Next will be Shantanu Narayen snatching iPhones from Adobe staff and stomping on them.
  • Reply 6 of 136
    sheffsheff Posts: 1,407member
    Makes sense. Adobe wants to develop a mobile version of flash and so needs to have a mobile phone that they can test it on. At this point only Android allows them to do so. Android will make or break mobile flash, and is adobe's last chance to get it right.
  • Reply 7 of 136
    2 cents2 cents Posts: 307member
    Should be lots of good Android deals on ebay coming up.
  • Reply 8 of 136
    eriamjheriamjh Posts: 1,642member
    Why would an Adobe employee tell its own employer how much their products stinks (if it does)?
  • Reply 9 of 136
    leithalleithal Posts: 64member
    I guess they'll need a second phone... since the first one's battery life will be so crappy.



    Wonder if they will be allowed to keep their iPhones?
  • Reply 10 of 136
    leithalleithal Posts: 64member
    Quote:
    Originally Posted by sheff View Post


    Makes sense. Adobe wants to develop a mobile version of flash and so needs to have a mobile phone that they can test it on. At this point only Android allows them to do so. Android will make or break mobile flash, and is adobe's last chance to get it right.



    Actually at this point, Flash is not even available for Android.
  • Reply 11 of 136
    aquia33aquia33 Posts: 70member
    "Adobe reportedly has not yet decided with Android phone?" Which??
  • Reply 12 of 136
    takeotakeo Posts: 446member
    Hahahahahahahahahaha!!!!!!!!! That's hilarious.
  • Reply 13 of 136
    prof. peabodyprof. peabody Posts: 2,860member
    Quote:
    Originally Posted by AppleInsider View Post


    Following Apple CEO Steve Jobs' public attack on Flash this week, Adobe is now reportedly planning to give its employees Android phones running Flash. ...



    This is just getting petty now.
  • Reply 14 of 136
    soskoksoskok Posts: 107member
    Quote:
    Originally Posted by 2 cents View Post


    Should be lots of good Android deals on ebay coming up.



  • Reply 15 of 136
    azazel-azazel- Posts: 68member
    Actually, that's a pretty good idea. What better way to subversively show their employees how much they need to improve their products than by forcing them to actually use them.
  • Reply 16 of 136
    Quote:
    Originally Posted by Eriamjh View Post


    Why would an Adobe employee tell its own employer how much their products stinks (if it does)?



    Because that would be the mark of a good employee.



    "I want people to tell me the truth, even if I fire them."



    -One of the MGMers
  • Reply 17 of 136
    drfreemandrfreeman Posts: 111member
    Some notes:
    • If Adobe believes that Flash is such a good piece of software, why don't they try making it into a standalone OS that runs a mobile phone! Surely that would solve this problem

    • Follow on: If this cross platform idea is that good, then why bother with developing Android or Windows Mobile or iPhone OS? Just make something that runs Flash and give it to people to use

    I think Adobe should just stick with what it can do best, or used to be good at . Producing authoring software, leave the rest to the technomages
  • Reply 18 of 136
    sockrolidsockrolid Posts: 2,789member
    Quote:
    Originally Posted by 2 cents View Post


    should be lots of good android deals on ebay coming up.



    lol!!
  • Reply 19 of 136
    ochymingochyming Posts: 474member
    Why not install flash on an actual iPhone, even if it is jailbroken?



    Apple is not against Flash (sites) on the iPhone (if you read Jobs post on Apple website), Jobs wrote Apple did not hold its breath.



    I am just growing a resentment about this Adobe's Flash vs Apple's iPhone brouhaha. And you see News agencies showing their ignorance and impartiality, BBC is an example of impartiality, but it is no a surprise.
  • Reply 20 of 136
    applesauce007applesauce007 Posts: 1,698member
    Adobe is in denial of flash being on it's last leg and that will end up hurting Adobe and mobile device makers and users. All this so that Adobe can recoup their Macromedia purchase price?



    They are wasting their time and money on FLASH when they should let the current tools run their course and focus on new HTML5 tools.



    Steve's Open letter could not be more clear. Any company that supports using flash on their mobile device at this point shows just how much thoughtful care goes into the design of their products.



    We are already seeing massive migration to HTML5 and when IE9 comes out with html5 support, the game will be over.





    Time will tell.
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