Adobe ships Flash 10.1 to mobile device makers

Posted:
in iPhone edited January 2014
Adobe on Tuesday announced the release of Flash Player 10.1 for Mobile, pitching it as "the first release that brings the full Web across desktops and devices."



Adobe said that Flash Player 10.1 will be available as a final production release for Android-based smartphones and tablets once users are able to upgrade to Android 2.2, dubbed "Froyo." The mobile version of Flash was also released to platform partners to be supported on devices based on BlackBerry, webOS, future versions of Windows Phone, LiMo, MeeGo and Symbian OS.



"We are thrilled that more than three million Flash designers and developers are now able to unleash their creativity on the world of smart phones, tablets, netbooks, televisions and other consumer electronics," said David Wadhwani, general manager and vice president, Platform Business at Adobe. "The combined power of the leading rich media technology platform with millions of passionate creatives is sure to impact the world in ways we haven?t even imagined yet."



Android devices expected to support both Android 2.2 and Flash Player 10.1 in the near future are the Dell Streak, Google Nexus One, HTC Evo, HTC Desire, HTC Incredible, Motorola Droid, Motorola Milestone and Samsung Galaxy S.



"We are excited that Android is the first mobile platform to support the full Flash Player," said Andy Rubin, vice president of engineering at Google. "Now mobile users can browse the full Web on their smart phones, and Android developers can use industry-leading tools to create immersive experiences on the Web."



Adobe originally intended to release Flash 10.1 in the second half of 2009, but it was later pushed to the first half of 2010. In April, the company revealed that its new mobile Flash player would slip to the second half of 2010, but Tuesday's release would suggest that the delay was not as significant as was originally anticipated.



Apple Chief Executive Steve Jobs noted Adobe's delays earlier this month at the All Things D conference, when he was interviewed by Walt Mossberg and Kara Swisher of The Wall Street Journal. Jobs noted that there are no smartphones shipping with Flash installed, to which Mossberg responded that there "will be."



"Well, there 'will be' for the last two or three years," Jobs quipped. "But HTML5 is starting to emerge."



Jobs also noted that his company has a history of abandoning technology it feels is on the way out, noting that they were one of the first to get rid of optical drives with the MacBook Air.



"When we do this, sometimes people call us crazy," he said. "Sometimes you have to pick the right horses. Flash looks like it had its day but it's waning, and HTML5 loos like it's coming up."



While Apple has banned Flash from its devices powered by the iPhone OS, including the iPhone, iPod touch and iPad, it has embraced HTML5. The exclusion of Flash has been pegged by Apple on the Web format's alleged instability and high power consumption in mobile devices. The fight between the two companies has been a matter of considerable debate, but many major Web sites have turned to HTML5 since the release of the iPad.



In addition to banning Flash from its mobile Web browsers, Apple also changed the iPhone developer agreement to ban third-party tools that would allow software to be ported from other formats, like Adobe Flash, to native iPhone OS software. Jobs said such tools would result in substandard applications on the Apple-controlled App Store. Those changes have come under federal scrutiny, as the Department of Justice and Federal Trade Commission are considering an antitrust inquiry into the matter.



The desktop counterpart of Flash Player 10.1 for Mac shipped earlier this month after more than six months of beta testing. The plugin works with Firefox, Opera, and Safari browsers, but it does not yet include official support for hardware video acceleration. Users who want early hardware acceleration must download Adobe's preview release of "Gala" H.264 hardware decoding, allowing Flash videos to play more efficiently on Macs.
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Comments

  • Reply 1 of 148
    ibeamibeam Posts: 322member
    Adobe is trying to pull one out of SJ's bag-o-tricks. Like Apple announced no Flash authoring for iPhone the day before CS5 was released. Adobe is hoping Flash on Android will rain on Steve's parade tomorrow. Probably without much effect though.
  • Reply 2 of 148
    shobizshobiz Posts: 207member
    Article should have been kept on topic instead of migrating only halfway in to it....



    JMO
  • Reply 3 of 148
    joe hsjoe hs Posts: 488member
    I wonder how many people will disable flash on their new flash-10.1 capable phone.
  • Reply 4 of 148
    postulantpostulant Posts: 1,272member
    I'm installing it on my iPad right now - it's snappier so far.
  • Reply 5 of 148
    lkrupplkrupp Posts: 10,557member
    Time will tell if Flash survives the move to mobility. Is Jobs right or wrong? The same people asking how they will view the "full internet" without Flash on the iPhone/iPad are the same ones who asked how they would transport their data without a floppy drive on the iMac. If you are on the Apple bandwagon you know it can be a bumpy ride at times but it always works out in the end. And this is a very different Steve Jobs these days. If Flash actually proves to be workable Jobs can turn Apple on a dime. Apple has some big clout these days with content providers. Would you like to be the company who's web site cannot be viewed by those 3 million iPad users, and god knows how many millions of iPhone users? I think not.
  • Reply 6 of 148
    masternavmasternav Posts: 442member
    Ads by Google ( Advertise here )

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    www.Adobe.com/Choice/



    Yep because Flash is sooooo much better as a closed and proprietary toolset. Love freedom of choice - don't necessarily love Adobe.



    And before the Adobe fans get all riled. Stop. I've been doing this for a longer time than Flash has even existed. So don't even trot out your arguments and your yeah-buts. It's OK. You can like/love yer Adobe tools and I don't. That's the real freedom of choice. The proof of the pudding is in the eating as they say. It still remains to be seen if Adobe has been able to pull a decent implementation out of their hat, or if they have concocted yet another version of Flash Lite. Thankfully, with the collusion of Google, maybe, just maybe it will be nice to the Android fans out there and work as hyped. Until then, its still just smoke and mirrors.

  • Reply 7 of 148
    mrtotesmrtotes Posts: 760member
    Funny. I suspect the world would still be waiting for mobile Flash if SJ hadn't made such a public deal of it not being released.



    The big if for owners of all the devices listed, is, if I understand correctly, whether their provider decides to offer the update?
  • Reply 8 of 148
    mactelmactel Posts: 1,275member
    10.1 for Mac OSX was feature shy. Is Adobe doing the same thing for these platforms? In other words, does it really support all of the Flash content out there on Android etc?
  • Reply 9 of 148
    anonymouseanonymouse Posts: 6,857member
    Quote:
    Originally Posted by masternav View Post


    ... Thankfully, with the collusion of Google ...



    If anyone doubted that Google has no commitment to quality nor real interest in promoting open standards, this should be the final nail in that coffin. They really have no principles that they live by other than greed, and their only commitment is to do anything they can to undermine whatever stands in their way. And I use the word "undermine" deliberately. Google isn't about creating something great that can succeed on it's own merits. They are about investing as little as possible of their own efforts and then trying to succeed by monkey-wrenching everyone else.



    I don't think they will succeed with this particular ploy, but it doesn't really matter to them, just like it doesn't really matter to them whether WebM/VP8 is really viable as an "open" video format. They create wreckage when and where they can and try to profit from the destruction when it occurs.
  • Reply 10 of 148
    jetzjetz Posts: 1,293member
    I've got it on my Nexus One running FroYo. I will say that it really slows the system down.



    That said, I am using it live stream World Cup matches from the CBC. So I am glad to have it than not have it. But I won't be surfing heavy Flash based websites anytime soon.
  • Reply 11 of 148
    Let the battery drain begin! Crash!!



    I still don't get the big deal over Flash. 95% of the flash content on the web is vomited out crap or video (which could be viewed without it). Someone doesn't really know how to do something so they use Flash.



    Also, the reason they need to list specific models mobile flash will work on is because they had to optimize the code for each model or it wouldn't work well. And still it won't do everything and will suck power. Try working with an EVO on 4G while viewing flash. Will that give you a 1/2 hour maybe an hour of use.
  • Reply 12 of 148
    BuffyzDeadBuffyzDead Posts: 356member
    Apple better count those 3 million iPads, and those 100 million iPhones & iPad Touches,



    as their LAST SALES!!



    With the millions and millions of consumers DEMANDING Flash on their mobile products, Apple won't have a chance in hell now.



    Those millions and millions of consumers NOW have a choice, and they want the WHOLE INTERNET



    Apple is DOOOOOMED !!!!!
  • Reply 13 of 148
    anonymouseanonymouse Posts: 6,857member
    Quote:
    Originally Posted by Jetz View Post


    I've got it on my Nexus One running FroYo. I will say that it really slows the system down. ...



    So, it seems that they still haven't provided a version for mobile with acceptable performance. Frankly, given the nature of the technology, that shouldn't be a surprise. As much as they don't want to admit it, it's likely simply not possible to have good performance and Flash.



    Let us know how long your battery lasts.
  • Reply 14 of 148
    sky kingsky king Posts: 189member
    It took awhile but I am starting to see things Apple's way on this one.



    Adobe says Apple is holding them hostage. But if Apple continues to rely on an outside provider (Flash) then Adobe can hold Apple hostage pretty much anytime they want to. A cleaner example would be: What if Apple did not provide iWork. Then Microsoft could hold Apple hostage over a wordprocesser.



    I think Steve may be right. Also, this could be precisely the right timing for this shift away from Flash.
  • Reply 15 of 148
    foo2foo2 Posts: 1,077member
    If Flash provides the full web experience, shouldn't it be at version 11?



    http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=EbVKWCpNFhY
  • Reply 16 of 148
    ibeamibeam Posts: 322member
    There is simply no good reason to have Flash on a phone. If the developers or web owners are too lazy or cheap to build an alternate site for mobiles then they deserve to lose the mobile market share. Just because Safari can browse a regular designed for desktop site it doesn't mean it is an enjoyable user experience.
  • Reply 17 of 148
    solipsismsolipsism Posts: 25,726member
    Quote:
    Originally Posted by mrtotes View Post


    Funny. I suspect the world would still be waiting for mobile Flash if SJ hadn't made such a public deal of it not being released.



    It's mid-2010 and Flash still isn't viable or universal across all Android phones, much less all non-iOS devices on the market. I absolutely believe that if not for Apple pointing out what a piece of crap Flash Lite is Adobe would even be farther behind than they are now. This "see we technically have it running on one version of one mobile OS on one device" is nothing more than a Pyrrhic victory they are trying to spin into a masterful "told you so" against Apple and only a few seem to be being it at this point.
  • Reply 18 of 148
    adamiigsadamiigs Posts: 355member
    I believe they only have released for frodydro all other systems in "the coming months" wtf does that mean, so they didn't REALLY release it for everything they released one crappy version for ONE version of android that most android users can't update to yet. BRILLIANT
  • Reply 19 of 148
    Quote:
    Originally Posted by BuffyzDead View Post


    Apple better count those 3 million iPads, and those 100 million iPhones & iPad Touches,



    as their LAST SALES!!



    With the millions and millions of consumers DEMANDING Flash on their mobile products, Apple won't have a chance in hell now.



    Those millions and millions of consumers NOW have a choice, and they want the WHOLE INTERNET



    Apple is DOOOOOMED !!!!!



    so you expect a plug-in to bring down a multi-billion dollar company? lets wait and see
  • Reply 20 of 148
    banchobancho Posts: 1,517member
    Quote:
    Originally Posted by aqnguyen87 View Post


    so you expect a plug-in to bring down a multi-billion dollar company? lets wait and see



    I believe Buffy was being sarcastic.



    "Apple is DOOOOOOOMED !!!" has been a fairly consistent meme that lends itself well to mocking sarcasm.
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