Flash heads to Android handsets

Posted by Al Warmington on Tue 18 Nov 2008

Adobe promises iPhone Flash is being worked on, but it's really down to Apple

Adobe and Google have demonstrated a working version of Flash on the T-Mobile G1 Android phone during a keynote at the Adobe MAXX developers conference.

Adobe’s Flash software is key to getting a full web experience, which naturally wouldn’t be complete without videos, games, music and a barrage of invasive adverts luring you to click on them with offers of free medicines.

“Adobe Flash is crucial to a rich Internet and content experience on mobile devices and we are thrilled that Google will be one of the first companies along with the Open Handset Alliance to bring Flash technology to the smartphone market,” Andy Rubin, director of mobile platforms at Google, told the audience.

This development is great news for G1 users who want the full web at their finger tips and a big blow for Apple’s iPhone. So far, Apple has stalwartly resisted user demands to get some kind of Flash support on official, un-jailbroken handsets. But there is some hope on the horizon: Adobe has revealed that is working on getting something going for iPhone and is confident it can get it working, at least from a technical perspective.

The weak link is Apple. El Jobso likes to rule his platform with an iron fist and may find it not to be in Apple’s best interest to allow Flash to work on the iPhone and so block a Flash player from the App Store.

There are good and bad reasons for this –the addition of Flash truly would allow a complete internet experience on the iPhone and to keep pace with rival smartphones, but Flash is a bit of a system hog and could have a very negative effect on battery life and performance, as well as opening the door for security issues.

Adobe (via IntoMobile and Silicon Alley Insider)

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User Comments

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7|03|2009 09:57

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By PaulJRiley

21|11|2008 13:08

The big, no huge, reason flash will not appear on the iPhone is that, like all of Apples products, it's about tying users to iTunes and the money that can be made that way.

Security issues raised are a way for Apple to distract it's users, but this blinkered, money grabbing approach that Apple are taking could result in them watching products like Google Android race past them, in a move that is reminiscent of the Wii verses the PS3, and proof if proof was needed that even companies the size of Apple and Sony are not bigger than the market.

I give it a year before the iphone is an item that comes free in a packet of your favourite cereal.

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