Flash moves closer to mobile

Adobe Systems Inc. inched closer to launching a Flash player for mobile devices unveiling its Flash Player 10.1 software designed for smartphones and other Internet-connected devices. The company said a public developer beta of the “browser-based runtime” is expected to available for Microsoft Corp.’s Windows Mobile and Palm Inc.’s WebOS operating systems later this year and for Google Inc.’s Android and the Symbian OS early next year.
Adobe also announced a joint collaboration to bring its Flash player to Research In Motion Ltd.’s BlackBerry platform and that nearly 50 companies have joined its Open Screen Project Initiative.
One notable absentee to this list is Apple Inc., which has not provided details on its plans to bring Flash to its iPhone device. A number of companies have announced plans to develop Flash-like applications for the device, but so far the device maker has kept mum on plans for support.
The Flash player for mobile devices is seen as a key driver in bringing the true Web-browsing experience to the wireless Web. Mobile Web browsers currently are unable to process Flash-based animation making it difficult to navigate many Web sites or forcing sites that rely on Flash, like YouTube, to develop specific sites designed to work with multiple mobile browsers. Adobe said the latest 10.1 version of Flash includes power-saving architecture as well as native support for multi-touch, gestures, mobile input models, accelerometer and screen orientation.
Partners in Adobe’s OSPI include Comcast Corp., Disney Interactive, Fox Mobile, Google, HTC Corp., Intel Corp., LG Electronics Co., Motorola Inc., Nokia Corp., Palm, Qualcomm Inc., Samsung Electronics Co. Ltd., Sony Ericsson, Texas Instruments Inc. and Verizon Wireless.