Okay Geek Farm
End of the road: Adobe stopping Mobile Flash development, focusing on HTML5
Brandon Davenport
Adobe said to it’s developers yesterday that “[They] will no longer adapt Flash Player for mobile devices to new browser, OS version or device configurations.” Instead, Adobe will be investing much more time and money in building HTML5 tools and products to help usher in a new age of development for the web and mobile devices. That said, Adobe will continue to support and provide critical updates and fixes to current deployments of Flash, but they will not be making any further development on Flash for new mobile devices and websites.
Our future work with Flash on mobile devices will be focused on enabling Flash developers to package native apps with Adobe AIR for all the major app stores. We will no longer adapt Flash Player for mobile devices to new browser, OS version or device configurations. Some of our source code licensees may opt to continue working on and releasing their own implementations. We will continue to support the current Android and PlayBook configurations with critical bug fixes and security updates — Adobe’s quote, ZDNet
Looking forward
The new web development revolution is approaching very quickly and it’s not going to take place on the desktop. Every day, more people are using the web via mobile devices (phones, tablets, netbooks) because even though these devices are limited in power and features, they peel back the layer of stationary, clunky desktops and come forth to offer a much more personal experience for the user. Even when developing Okay Geek, we always put emphasis on trying to make a fantastic mobile experience — but where did Flash ever fit in?
Flash never fit in to the mobile space. All WebKit browsers (the majority of all mobile browsers) supported everything Flash offered, but was all out-of-the-box on day one. Flash was something we didn’t need in the mobile space, and something we don’t need on the desktop either (but that’s another article for another day).
Flash took a piece of Android with it
The platform that is going to be hit hardest by the news is Android, not because it needed Flash (it doesn’t and future iterations will be better without it), but because Flash was being used as a selling point by manufacturers and consumers. Flash on a phone isn’t really anything compelling this day in age and any developer who uses Flash in the mobile space will have to pull a 180, which is going to be hard, but one thing is clear — we’re making progress.
We are insanely excited to learn more about the HTML5 tools Adobe will be developing and different initiatives they will be making in the mobile space, but until then, we will continue watching the clock and waiting for the inevitable day when Flash finally degrades out of existence.
