Adobe abandons mobile Flash development, report says

Thanks Ron just saw this on Droid Life. Disappointing. I guess Steve Jobs is smiling up in heaven now.

 

I've got a feeling this will end up causing problems all over the place. Especially considering that 1. HTML5 is still barely used on websites. 2. When it is, it usually requires H.264, which is supported very little in mobile and desktop browsers. Basically Safari and IE are it for full support..and you won't be getting IE on current mobile devices.

 

Lol this won't happen.

 

I didn't get much sleep last night, so help my brain out by not making me think too hard..what won't happen? Lol

 

Flash won't abandon mobile devices.

 

I figured you meant that. I don't see how it can yet. I understand, and have seen that Flash on mobile is a frustrating experience. However, due to the abundance of Flash across the web, and the aforementioned tendency of HTML5 websites to require the poorly supported H.264, mobile kind of needs Flash. Heck, you could even say that the desktop still needs Flash, unless you choose to use IE strictly because of its H.264 support...which is a highly unlikely scenario.

 

Mobile devices are only getting more powerful and being used more and more for browsers.

Chrome is being ported to Android, Flash is definitely going to get pushed towards it as well. Chrome does not officially support h.264 and that gets handled by the Flash player.

And then there's the fact that Windows 8 is going to be on tablets etc.

Will this happen eventually? Maybe... in years. I seriously doubt this will happen soon.

I think what's really going ot happen is we're going to see mobile platforms start working more like regular ones the way Chrome is being ported and Win8 is being universal.

 

According to microsoft IE on windows phone devices is the same as the desktop version so anyone with a windows mobile phone should have no trouble.

 

Exactly my point Farmerlee. That will soon be the case with Android as well.

 

Yeh definitely, soon there will be little need for mobile versions of any software. I mean dual core 1.5ghz with 1 gig of ram, its like carrying a desktop in your pocket lol.

 

Pretty much.

 

I've been going through my daily checking of tech sites, and this news is being treated like the Second Coming. Titles like "Our Long National Nightmare is Over" are all over the place, lol. Actually, the nightmare should be beginning, unless you have a hacked iOS or a Windows phone.

 

The nightmare is never over...

 

Not really. Android is already getting a ported Chrome so it won't be effected. Windows 8 phones will have no issues.

 

I had no idea Chrome was moving over to Android, that's good. It also makes these "victory" speeches by the tech sites look even sillier.

 

Yeah, don't expect it for Ice Cream Sandwich but I would bet the iteration after will have a full desktop browser - Chrome.

iOS will likely do the same thing.

Win8 is, of course, already doing this.

 

iOS? Really? I'd never expect them to fully support Flash, and they'd have to unless Google deliberately provided a version of Chrome without Flash built-in. I know Jobs is gone now, so maybe the "Flash is Satan" belief from Apple will let up a bit, but who knows.

 

They'll support it eventually, I personally believe that at least.

My point was moreso that we'll see desktop browsers being ported to phones, Chrome, Safari, IE9/10.

 

Flash for mobile is just awful. Nobody will miss it.

 

Nobody will notice it's gone... because it's still going to be there.

 

It will be replaced by AIR on native apps and discontinued.

http://blogs.adobe.com/conversations/2011/11/flash-focus.html

"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."

Google doesn't develop Flash, dude.

 

AIR is entirely different though, it's not some browser addon, it runs applications.

Think of it this way, do you think Flash will work on a windows 8 computer? tablet? phone? There's no real difference between them... except that some phones/tablets use ARM, which means recompiling and we already know intel is going into the phone cpu game.

Do you think will continue to work on Linux? With Chrome? That's all the Android browser is going to be (with that extra Java layer in between.)

 

But Flash is being discontinued for what is still considered "mobile".

If the mobile hardware/system start to match desktop's one, then your assert might turn out to be correct.

 

Adobe confirms: no Flash for Chrome on Android - Arstechnica