iPhone News Updated

Adobe’s Mobile Flash Player Will Skip Apple’s iPhone

Adobe Systems has not included Apple, Inc.’s iPhone in its plans for Flash Player 10.1 beta for mobile devices. Flash Player 10.1 will run on Windows Mobile, Palm webOS, Android, Symbian and BlackBerry mobile operating systems. An analyst suggested Apple may want to make its own Flash Player announcement and avoid a “glaring omission.”

Adobe Systems’ Flash technology is ubiquitous on desktop and laptop computers, but its availability on smartphones and other mobile Relevant Products/Services devices is spotty. Adobe is now looking to change that, with its announcement Monday of a public developer beta of Flash Player 10.1 for “smartphones, smartbooks, netbooks, PCs and other Internet-connected devices.” One device left off the list: Apple’s iPhone.

The beta player will be available later this year for devices using Windows Mobile and Palm webOS, with versions for Google’s Android and Symbian OS expected early next year. The player will also run on computers using Windows, Mac and Linux OSes, and Adobe has joined with Research in Motion to collaborate on bringing the Flash player to RIM’s BlackBerrys.

Part of Open Screen Project

By using the Flash platform, developers can reuse code and assets across a wide variety of devices, for high-definition and standard-resolution video, interactive animation, and media-based applications.

The player is the “first consistent runtime release” of the Open Screen Project, according to Adobe. The project is a joint effort of various companies to have a consistent user experience for content Relevant Products/Services across devices, especially media-based content. Participants include Atlantic Records, BBC, Cisco, Comcast, Conde Nast, Disney Interactive, Google, HTC, Intel, LG Electronics, Lionsgate, MTV Networks, NBC Universal, and others.

“We are excited about the broad collaboration Relevant Products/Services of close to 50 industry leaders in the Open Screen Project,” said David Wadhwani, an Adobe vice president. He added that the collaboration includes 19 of the top 20 handset manufacturers worldwide.

Although he didn’t specify, the 20th manufacturer is Apple. Avi Greengart, an analyst with industry research firm Current Analysis, said he wouldn’t “read too much” into the iPhone not being part of this announcement. “Apple knows this is an issue,” he said, “and it likes to make its own announcements.”

‘Completes the Mobile Experience’

But, Greengart added, if Apple doesn’t have Flash on the iPhone by the first quarter of next year, when Flash Player 10.1 is populating most mobile devices, that will be seen “as a glaring omission.” In the past, Apple CEO Steve Jobs has criticized Adobe’s mobile Flash as underpowered.

Greengart pointed out that the Flash player now on mobile devices is not necessarily integrated into mobile Web browsers and is not always compatible with the wide range and large amount of Flash-based content on the Web. This new player, he said, “completes the mobile experience,” such as viewing Flash-based videos or using Flash-based travel sites.

Its availability on multiple platforms, he said, “lets the mobile Web catch up.”

Adobe said this player leverages the power of a graphics-processing unit to accelerate video and graphics while conserving battery life. The player can also take advantage of multi-touch and gestural interaction, accelerometers, screen orientation, and HTTP streaming.

[Thanks: http://www.newsfactor.com]

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