Flash Player 10.1 Almost Here, iPhone Left Outside

Software company Adobe announced about a half a year ago that it planned on delivering full support for its Flash technology for the emerging market of smartphones, and most of you might know already that its Flash Player 10.1 is the one that will make this happen. Work in the area is being made, and, although we were originally expecting the support to arrive in late 2009, it seems that the first half of 2010 will be the actual lucky time frame. Demonstrations of the technology were made at the recent CES show in Las Vegas, and, with the fast approaching launch date, the one thing that remains to be seen is which devices will enjoy Flash and which won't.

Here's what Kevin Lynch, CTO of Adobe, said recently in a blog post: “We are now on the verge of delivering Flash Player 10.1 for smartphones with all but one of the top manufacturers. This includes Google's Android, RIM's Blackberry, Nokia, Palm Pre and many others across form factors including not only smartphones but also tablets, netbooks, and internet-connected TVs.”

However, one device will still be left outside, namely the Apple iPhone. This is not something new, as Flash was missing from previous products of Apple's, but now things seem to be getting serious. Flash is the one thing that Apple doesn't seem to agree with, thus eliminating the technology from its recently launched iPad too, while refusing it in the iPhone and iPod. “We are ready to enable Flash in the browser on these devices if and when Apple chooses to allow that for its users, but to date we have not had the required cooperation from Apple to make this happen,” Lynch notes.

One other thing that Adobe's CTO notes is that HTML will most probably reach a point in the future when there will be no need for Flash, and that HTML 5 is one step being made in this direction. However, this is something that won't occur too soon, and smartphone users will certainly appreciate the support for the technology on their devices. Especially since manufacturers are packing newer phones with more and more raw power, and with enhanced connectivity capabilities.

“Flash in the browser provides a competitive advantage to these devices because it will enable their customers to browse the whole Web. This is being accomplished via the Open Screen Project, where we are working with over 50 partners to make this a reality across a wide array of devices. For example, the recent Nexus One from Google will rock with a great experience in the browser with Flash Player 10.1,” Lynch states.