Adobe have announced that public betas of Flash 10.1 for Windows Mobile and webOS will be made available before the end of the year, with the Android and Symbian platforms following in “early” 2010.
Getting Flash on to mobile platforms has long been a goal for Adobe, and it’ll be great news for punters too, who will now be able to fully enjoy multimedia-heavy websites.
According to Adobe, Flash is now used to present 75% of video and 70% of games on the web, with their latest version 10 hitting a hefty 93% penetration of desktops.
The news comes ahead of the Adobe Max conference in Los Angeles, although support for the most high profile phone of the lot – the Apple iPhone – remains uncertain, with the two companies simply not getting along these days.
The announcement is evidence of Adobe’s commitment to the Open Screen Project, which aims to provide a consistent application interface across multiple devices such as personal computers, mobile devices and consumer electronics.
Upcoming Flash-supporting handsets are set to feature hardware acceleration for H.264 video on chipsets like Qualcomm’s Snapdragon and NVIDIA GeForce, ION,and Tegra, with support for multi-touch gestures and accelerometers.
Battery life?
Although we’re certainly digging the prospect of being able to immerse ourselves in al lthat Flash goodness when we’re out and about, we can’t get nagging doubts about its potential impact on battery life out of our heads.
However, Adobe insist that the coming version of Flash is optimised to conserve battery life and keep resource usage to a minimum.
Here’s a video of the Palm Pre multi-tasking three Flash apps to whet your appetite:
If that’s not enough info for you, here’s the full press release for y’all:
Adobe Unveils First Full Flash Player for Mobile Devices and PCs
Close to 50 Open Screen Project Participants Support New Browser Runtime for Multiple Platforms
LOS ANGELES – Oct. 5, 2009 – Adobe Systems Incorporated (Nasdaq:ADBE) today unveiled Adobe® Flash® Player 10.1 software for smartphones, smartbooks, netbooks, PCs and other Internet-connected devices, allowing content created using the Adobe Flash Platform to reach users wherever they are. A public developer beta of the browser-based runtime is expected to be available for Windows® Mobile, Palm® webOS and desktop operating systems including Windows, Macintosh and Linux later this year. Public betas for Google® Android™ and Symbian® OS are expected to be available in
early 2010.In addition, Adobe and RIM announced a joint collaboration to bring Flash Player to Blackberry® smartphones, and Google joined close to 50 other industry players in the Open Screen Project initiative.
Flash Player 10.1 is the first consistent runtime release of the Open Screen Project that enables uncompromised Web browsing of expressive applications, content and high definition (HD) videos across devices. Using the productive Web programming model of the Flash Platform, the browser-based runtime enables millions of designers and developers to reuse code and assets and reduce the cost of creating, testing and deploying content across different operating systems and browsers. Flash Player 10.1 is easily updateable across all supported platforms to ensure rapid adoption of new innovations that move the Web forward.The browser-based runtime leverages the power of the Graphics Processing Unit (GPU) for accelerated video and graphics while conserving battery life and minimizing resource utilization. New mobile-ready features that take advantage of native device capabilities include support for multi-touch, gestures, mobile input models, accelerometer and screen orientation bringing unprecedented creative control and expressiveness to the mobile browsing experience. Flash Player 10.1 will also take advantage of media delivery with HTTP streaming, including integration of content protection powered by Adobe® Flash® Access 2.0. This effort, code-named Zeri, will be an open format based on industry standards and will
provide content publishers, distributors and partners the tools they need to utilize HTTP infrastructures for high-quality media delivery in Flash Player 10.1 and Adobe® AIR® 2.0 software.“With Flash Player moving to new mobile platforms, users will be able to experience virtually all Flash technology based Web content and applications wherever they are,” said David Wadhwani, general manager and vice president, Platform Business Unit at Adobe. “We are excited about the broad collaboration of close to 50 industry leaders in the Open Screen Project and the ongoing collaboration with 19 out of the top 20 handset manufacturers worldwide. It will be great to see first devices ship with full Flash Player in the first half of next year.”
“We are excited to join Adobe and other industry leaders in the Open Screen Project,” said Sundar Pichai, vice president of Product Management at Google. “This initiative supports our common goal to move the Web forward as a platform and to spur innovation in the industry through technology such as Adobe Flash.”
“Adobe Flash technology provides a key experience on new Windows phones, enabling people to enjoy rich Flash based games, videos and other interactive Web content on the go,” said Stephanie Ferguson, general manager, Product Management, Microsoft Corp. “We look forward to bringing in the new capabilities of Adobe Flash Player 10.1 to the Windows phone browser when it becomes available.”
“Motorola is excited to be one of the first handset manufacturers to ship Android based devices with Flash Player support early next year,” said Christy Wyatt, vice president of software applications and ecosystem at Motorola. “As the No.1 platform for video on the Web, uncompromised browsing of Flash technology based content is essential for a rich mobile experience and something users expect from Motorola today.”
“As a longtime partner of Adobe, and more than 400 million Nokia phones shipped with existing Flash technology to date, we are excited to see Flash Player becoming a reality for mobile phones and other mobile devices,” said Purnima Kochikar, vice president, Forum Nokia. “Nokia is excited about full Flash Player coming to devices and we are committed to supporting Flash Player 10.1 on mobile devices in 2010.”
