Adobe has announced that it "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."
Why? Because HTML5 has become the de facto standard for
streaming video on mobile devices. And that's not just us saying
it. Adobe's own blog, where the news was posted, agrees:
"HTML5 is now universally supported on major mobile devices, in
some cases exclusively. This makes HTML5 the best solution
for creating and deploying content in the browser across mobile
platforms."
It continued: "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."
So, what's next for Adobe? The company
said yesterday that it was planning to lay off 750 staff
as part of a restructuring to re-focus the company on digital media
and marketing. Investment will increase in Flash innovation
however:
"These changes will allow us to increase investment in HTML5 and
innovate with Flash where it can have most impact for the industry,
including advanced
gaming andpremium
video. Flash Player
11 for PC browsers just introduced dozens of new features,
including hardware
accelerated 3D graphics for console-quality gaming and
premium HD video with content protection.
We are already working on Flash Player 12 and a new round of
exciting features which we expect to again advance what is possible
for delivering high definition entertainment experiences. "