14 DAY TRIAL // This week, Mountain View-based Internet giant Google is expected to announce during Google I/O the next flavor of its mobile operating system, namely Android 2.2 (Froyo), and one of the hottest features of the platform is expected to be the native support for Adobe's Flash Player 10.1. Adobe is moving closer to making the technology available for mobile phone users, with plans to release it for handsets powered by other versions of Android too, and a series of sites that have been optimized for the mobile solution emerged into the wild.
Apparently, Android users that own handsets eligible for an upgrade to the next iteration of the operating system (such as Nexus One, Droid, and soon, HTC Evo) will receive a link to an Adobe Mobile website as soon as they perform the upgrade, at least this is what a recent article on techcrunch states. The page will provide users with the possibility to view the websites that are Flash-enabled (among which those mobile optimized are highlighted), or to get Adobe products.
Adobe seems set to promote sites that take advantage of Flash 10.1, though it seems that the list of sites is different in accordance with the handset one uses. According to techcrunch, Nexus One and DROID by Motorola users can already view the list, which shows fewer destinations on DROID, but which might actually change upon the actual launch. Sony Pictures (mobile optimized), Miniclip (mobile optimized), South Park Studios (mobile optimized), or Warner Brothers (mobile optimized) are just examples of sites that can be seen on the aforementioned list (available here).
Many mobile phones are expected to benefit from the Flash 10.1 technology as soon as Adobe makes it available, except Apple's iPhone and iPad, of course. The dispute between Adobe and Apple on the matter is no mystery to the world, and the list of Flash-enabled sites available for Android users is suggested to have been put in place as a response to a list of iPad-optimized sites Apple recently published. One way or the other, Flash on Android is expected to be seen as a great enhancement to the mobile platform, and Google seems set to turn this into a selling point for devices powered by its OS.