Wednesday, November 9, 2011

End Of The Mobile War Over Flash Player

The long-running account of the jabs and counter-punches exchanged between Apple and Adobe over Flash Player and its suitability for mobile devices seems to have wrapped up at last. ZD Net first reported that Adobe's Flash player will not be developed for new mobile devices, mobile browsers, or mobile OSes or even their future OS versions.

All Things D notes that Adobe recently announced a 750-FTE job cut, which may be related to its lack of stomach for a platform war that, as chronicled right here (from its inception or shortly afterward through a number of pieces of evidence suggesting the ultimate outcome), Adobe was plainly losing.

Will anybody miss mobile Flash?

Will anybody see a reason to maintain desktop Flash? If it eats cycles (i.e., electricity), weakens security, is unnecessary (or mobile devices wouldn't work), and messes up accessibility on users' diverse platforms, what will the basis be for deploying content that requires Flash players on any platform?

No comments: