Adobe Rolling Out Flash for Smart Phones; Developer Kit for iPhone

Posted 10/05/2009 at 3:15pm | by Bart Salisbury

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Adobe, at its MAX developer conference in Los Angeles, announced it was preparing versions of its widely used Flash technology to a number of smartphones. Working with Windows Mobile, Research In Motion, Google, and Palm, Adobe will have Flash Players ready for Windows Mobile and Palm webOS phones later this year. Also, public betas will be available early next year for Symbian OS and Google Android. Lastly, a version for Blackberry smartphones is being promised for some future date.

Adobe’s plans for the Flash Player will help to reduce the problems developers experience porting apps to multiple platforms. According to Adrain Ludwig, Adobe’s product marketing manager for the Flash platform, “Fundamentally, right now if you are a web developer, or a mobile developer no one goes back and forth between the two. Now, if you have a great mobile idea, go ahead and build it and put it on a mobile device.”

Initially missing from the list was Apple’s ubiquitous iPhone. Suitable teeth gnashing over the slight followed until a subsequent announcement by John Loiacono, the senior vice president of Adobe’s Creative Solutions Business. During his key note address, Loiacono said the iPhone would get something a bit better: Adobe Flash Professional CS5. CS5 will permit developers to create Flash applications that run native on the iPhone. Aditya Bansod, of Adobe Developers Connection, says this is due to demands by Flash developers eager to create apps for Apple’s mobile device.

Image Credit: iPhone Footprint