Rich Flash Apps in Store for Smartphones

Adobe has announced that its Flash Player 10.1 will be released by year end 2009 for the Windows Mobile and webOS platforms, with Android, Symbian and Blackberry to follow. A release for the iPhone remains elusive, but Adobe notes that 19 out of the top 20 handset makers have signed on for Flash Player. This means these devices will be able to carry a more diverse range of applications, in other words, expect more games, GPS-based services, social networking and videos.

Up until now, most smartphones have employed a low power version of Flash, due to the limited processors used in the devices. When Adobes latest software comes out of beta, sometime in the first half of next year, the mobile web will take a leap forward. Beta versions of Flash Player 10.1 will be available to software developers before year end and we should start to hear more about the coming new breed of apps not long after.

Flash is used to deliver around 75% of Web sites for delivering video, including YouTube and Google Video. It is also used for running online advertisements, which should give many websites an incentive to develop mobile versions. According to Anup Murarka of Adobe's Flash Platform group, "A lot of sites depend on advertising to sustain themselves, and they've had a tendency to block or restrict mobile access because they couldn't support it with an advertising model." The Windows Mobile and Palm webOS betas will be out first, and then Android and Symbian versions. They actually will be a few months late, says Murarka; Android because Adobe requires programming interfaces that will not be available until the Androids clair comes out later this year.

As for the iPhone? "Unfortunately we have no news for you there," said Murarka. "As we've said before, we need additional support and cooperation from Apple to get Flash on the iPhone."