Adobe ceasing development of mobile Flash 40
Wed, 09 Nov 2011 5:11 pm EST 
Chalk it up to a victory for open standards, the slow progress of Adobe, or the intervention of unicorns from Neptune, whatever you like really, as Adobe Flash for mobile is done and over. Adobe is going to be refocusing their efforts on Adobe AIR for mobile apps and HTML5 development tools. Said Danny Winokur, VP and GM of interactive development at Adobe:
HTML5 is now universally supported on major mobile devices, in some cases exclusively. This makes HTML5 the best solution for creating and deploying content in the browser across mobile platforms. We are excited about this, and will continue our work with key players in the HTML community, including Google, Apple, Microsoft and RIM, to drive HTML5 innovation they can use to advance their mobile browsers.
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 continue to develop Flash Player in the browser to work with new mobile device configurations (chipset, browser, OS version, etc.) following the upcoming release of Flash Player 11.1 for Android and BlackBerry PlayBook. We will of course continue to provide critical bug fixes and security updates for existing device configurations. We will also allow our source code licensees to continue working on and release their own implementations.
So what does this mean for webOS? It means that unless HP (or whoever possibly purchases webOS) makes updates to the build of Flash Palm, HP, and Adobe worked on for webOS 2.0 and webOS 3.0, you’re not going to see any updates to Flash. But Flash isn't going to disappear off your device either. Which is all well-and-good, we suppose. Flash on the TouchPad wasn’t terrible, so long as what you wanted to do was watch videos. Cursor-drive interaction wasn’t great at all, and Flash on webOS smartphones? Don’t get us started on that debacle.
So let’s put Flash behind us, shall we? It’s time to ride off into a glorious HTML5-powered sunset.
Source: Adobe; Via: Android Central
40 Comments
i guess they waited for steve jobs to pass to admit he was right, so they wouldn't have to hear a load of cr*p from him.
adobe = bloatware.
Breaking news: prerecorded message from Steve Jobs comes out, Jobs boasting how he killed Flash.
"I'm dead, and I still managed to kill you. OWNED."
LOL
That's good! Paying respect to Job's and funny. Excellent!
That's the first thing I thought too - not that that is gonna keep Steve from talking sh**. I can just hear him right now.
Well this was to some extent also a self fulfilling prophecy.
Imagine Microsoft saying that "Java" is lame and that it won't be possible to run anything made with Java on Windows. Of course this will be a heavy blow and rather than Windows I guess that Java would simply die (not that it has a good time as its with Oracle...)
Of course Flash had and still has issues. But show me anything that works significantly better. HTML5 is the future, but at this point it's not yet there either.
It wasn't a prophecy. If Apple knew that Flash would die soon then they could have just enabled it for iOS and waited for it to die. Apple intentionally killed Flash on mobile because they felt it sucked.
I don't think it was Apple's doing alone. Adobe felt they could weather that storm and certainly tried.
I'd say it was Windows 8. That touch browser won't have flash either. I know everyone is all about ipads and androids right this minute, but that will change drastically in the coming years. http://www.slashgear.com/adobe-responds-to-windows-8-not-supporting-flas...
The future isn't bright for flash and adobe knows it.
as I said "a self fulfilling prophecy"...
"Self-fulfilling prophecy
From Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia
A self-fulfilling prophecy is a prediction that directly or indirectly causes itself to become true, by the very terms of the prophecy itself, due to positive feedback between belief and behavior."
Apple DID indeed kill it. Yes it sucked hard times and yes it still has issues, but as I said: What does RIGHT NOW work better?
I personally still am glad that an open standard will be established instead of Flash, but I'am not sure if it will be much better in terms of CPU/GPU-utilization and battery consumption (The main problem always was not just flash but the usage of heavy effects on small and less capable devices). What certainly will get better is the hardware.
Thinks it's no big deal? You must not use it much on your mobile. Turn it off if you have the option and notice how much HTML5 is used.
I've said this a few times before. I don't like Flash. In fact I mostly hate it. However, it's still a necessary evil until people not only stop using it to create sites, but change older sites to stop using it. The worst offender is restaurants' sites, in my experience, but if I want to look up a menu or call for reservations, sometimes there's no other way.
Flash on mobile might suck, but at least it allows me to do this the times it's necessary. As much as it sucks, it's better than going to a site and seeing an empty gray box.
Exactly.
I agree with you for the most part. But how else do you force these sites to update? Including Flash with everything because there is so much Flash content out there won't encourage those web devs to dump flash and use open standards.
When they realize more and more users can't see their site's content, they will make the decision on their own to dump Flash. It will be painful for a while but in the end, everyone wins.
I'll third that. Absolutely true. It's just silly that I can't check a restaurant menu on my Wife's iPhone. Glad that WebOS does it .... wait... I'm using 1.4.5. ;)
Shouldn't that be 'It's time to ride off into a glorious HTML5-powered sunRISE'??
WHAT!?! Flash dead BEFORE WebOS?!? A Festivus miracle!!! Hey, wait, what about Silverlight? Will M$oft finally get the picture and stop with that C*R*A*P too?
There are some rumors about that http://www.theverge.com/2011/11/9/2548975/microsoft-may-halt-development...
I doubt it will be truly killed, but as a browser-plugin this is probably the start of the end for silverlight.
First big win for Jobs from the grave. Probably won't be the last.
Waiting for the "Who needs apps when you've got Flash?" "Huh? Flash is dead, you need apps!" arguments.
Who needs flash or apps when you have HMTL5.
;-)
ROFL +1
Everyone is transitioning to HTML5 now. HP is sitting on a freakin' webOS, yet they still don't know what to do with it. QNX and Windows 8 support native HTML5 apps and Phonegap made it possible on iOS and Android, but no one did it with the same system integration that webOS did. With Flash on mobile going out, HTML5 is rising front and center, but HP wants to pass.
15 years and finally they admit what everyone else already knew, it runs like proprietary **** It's a browseroid and it always has been.
I dont think Flash mobile is 15 years old. Mobile is what's not getting further development. Flash will keep marching right along for PCs.
Even in death, Steve Jobs still wins. Lol
Let's be clear on what this means:
- Flash in mobile browsers is the ONLY area that is dead.
- Flash on mobile devices (which is necessary for the AIR runtime) for stand-alone AIR apps is still alive.
- Flash in desktop browsers (Win/MacOS/Linux) is still alive
- Flash on desktop devices (stand-alone AIR apps) is still alive (Win/MacOS supported; Linux exists but is outdated and not supported going forward)
Of course given that a whole generation of Android devices is in the installed base (webOS users being relatively inconsequential in numbers by comparison) and it will be a while before their associated contracts are up and they are replaced, it will probably still be a while before websites move to HTML5 - and that's not including the fact that Flash support for desktop browsers is still alive too. Adobe is still encouraging Flash development for mobile apps (using AIR). They are also beefing up their HTML5 tools.
So, basically, we'll see mobile websites move to HTML5 first, though it will take some time - hopefully this will drive regular/full websites to move as well. Either way, the process will probably take years (though probably quicker than if Adobe had continued to push Flash in the web browser everywhere).
This change is mainly driven by the following factors:
-Supporting Flash in multiple mobile OS/browser combinations is expensive (lots of coding/debugging/testing)
-Flash in mobile web browsers is not helping Adobe sell lots of their development tools - mobile development is trending toward stand-alone apps and not through use of the web
-The Flash experience on a mobile web browser is not the greatest (touch versus mouse driven input models, performance) - related to the point immediately preceding
As far as Steve Jobs being "right" about Flash - Apple has always been a strong proponent of the stand-alone app development model. Lack of Flash support increases their app store count and ties developers and users to their platform - so, of course, their interest was in disparaging any and all cross-platform frameworks. I should add that, by pointing this out, that I do not mean to say that Apple does not have a valid point about Flash mobile performance - it's just that it's a red herring for Apple to state that is the main/only reason they are against Flash.
Well, other than it sucks on mobile phones or "tablets". No red herring needed.
My experience mirrors Derek's statements in the article - Flash web content on the Pre2 is terrible. On the Touchpad, though, it is decent.
More on Apple and Adobe Flash can be found in this interesting blog entry by Michael Mace:
http://mobileopportunity.blogspot.com/2010/05/apple-adobe-and-openness-l...
Flash is perfect on the GS2, but that has hardware to spare.
Let's be clear. HPTP, PB, Xoom, and all the other craplets jumped on the Flash bandwagon, not because it was a good experience or good for the web. They all did it because they thought it would differentiate them from Apple. More to the point, they thought they could expoit Apple's lack of Flash as a weakness. Flash was going to save them and keep Adobe relevent in the mobile space.
As it happens, all of the craplets that promoted Flash are dead or dying, and none of them helped Adobe. Today, Adobe lays off even more workers. This is just more iPad/iPhone roadkill.
That's pretty much dead on. What also hurt is that most popular sites you'd want to visit with flash content were turned off so to speak to your mobile browser.
I chalk it up to Adobe's inability to deliver a flash player that is not bloated, slow, and late. It is unbelievable how poorly they have done in this regard and I am amazed to see them simply give up.
I wouldn't call it "simply giving up". They fought with Apple back in 2007 about getting Flash on the iPhone yet were unable to get a "somewhat" stable mobile version running until about 3 years later. I'd say they "tried and failed" rather than simply gave up.
Don't get me wrong. I liked having the option on my Android device. But I honestly don't miss it on my iOS device. It just hasn't been an issue for the vast majority of the time for me.
like html 5 support on the Touchpad is stellar? At least everything Flash that I tried actually works!
Your Touchpad is far from a barometer of what to expect for performance on a tablet.
An article that makes sense instead of all the **** around this on the internet and in the comments: http://gskinner.com/blog/archives/2011/11/flash-player-mobile-a-post-mor...
I, For One, Welcome Our New Apple Overlords...
It seems every day another competitor throws in the towel against Apple. Now, WebOS cannot use Flash (a suddenly dead platform) as a differentiator versus iPad/iPhone.
Pretty soon, we'll all welcome an OS where everything is sandboxed, choice is eliminated, applications are restricted and restrictive, and resistance is futile (sorry about that last one).
1984 came 30 years too soon...
streamsex point com & xvideoslive point com are two great reasons I love flash.
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