Adobe Announces Upgraded Flash Platform for Smartphones

­Adobe Systems has announced a new variant of the Flash website software that it expects to be available on the majority of smartphones from early next year - excluding the Apple iPhone.

A public developer beta of theAdobe Flash Player 10.1 browser-based runtime is expected to be available for Windows Mobile, Palm and desktop operating systems including Windows, Macintosh and Linux later this year. Public betas for Google Android and Symbian OS are expected to be available in early 2010.

"Motorola is excited to be one of the first handset manufacturers to ship Android based devices with Flash Player support early next year," said Christy Wyatt, vice president of software applications and ecosystem at Motorola. "As the No.1 platform for video on the Web, uncompromised browsing of Flash technology based content is essential for a rich mobile experience and something users expect from Motorola today."

In addition, Adobe and RIM announced a joint collaboration to bring Flash Player to Blackberry smartphones, and Google joined close to 50 other industry players in the Open Screen Project initiative.

The browser-based runtime leverages the power of the Graphics Processing Unit (GPU) for accelerated video and graphics while conserving battery life and minimizing resource utilization. New mobile-ready features that take advantage of native device capabilities include support for multi-touch, gestures, mobile input models, accelerometer and screen orientation.

Nokia and Adobe announced more than 35 funded multi-screen applications as part of the joint Open Screen Project Fund. Both companies also introduced new Nokia Web Runtime (WRT) extensions for Adobe Dreamweaver CS4 software making the creation of mobile WRT widgets for supported Nokia devices easier than ever.

"As a longtime partner of Adobe, and more than 400 million Nokia phones shipped with existing Flash technology to date, we are excited to see Flash Player becoming a reality for mobile phones and other mobile devices," said Purnima Kochikar, vice president, Forum Nokia. "Nokia is excited about full Flash Player coming to devices and we are committed to supporting Flash Player 10.1 on mobile devices in 2010."

Posted to the site on 5th October 2009