Adobe Halts Flash Player Development For Mobile Browsers

Adobe revealed last night that it is discontinuing development of its Flash Player for mobile browsers, and instead focusing on HTML5 for mobile devices. The company said that HTML5 is "the best solution for creating and deploying content in the browser across mobile platforms," and that Adobe will no longer develop the mobile Flash Player following the release of version 11.1. Instead, Abode will increase its investment in HTML5, including advanced gaming and premium video options. The company aims to enable Flash developers to package native apps with Adobe AIR for mobile devices. Meanwhile, the company is continuing to work on Flash Player 12 for PC browsers, and it said that it is looking to "offer developers and content publishers great options for delivering compelling web and application experiences across PCs and devices." Danny Winokur, VP at Adobe, said, "We are super excited about the next generations of HTML5 and Flash. Together they offer developers and content publishers great options for delivering compelling web and application experiences across PCs and devices." There has been conflict between Adobe and Apple in the past over Adobe's Flash platform. Apple co-founder Steve Jobs said last year that his company's decision not to support Flash on its iOS devices was due to Flash being a closed platform. "Adobe claims that we are a closed system, and that Flash is open, but in fact the opposite is true," he explained. He noted that anyone that wants to develop for Flash has to go through Adobe. Elsewhere, Adobe altered its fourth quarter 2011 fiscal results forecast. As part of the forecast, the company revealed that it is planning to cut its staff numbers by around 750 people in North America and Europe. The most recent total headcount at Adobe was 10,040 as of September 2 this year. [UPDATE: A report on ZDnet cited sources close to Adobe who said: "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. We will no longer adapt Flash Player for mobile devices to new browser, OS version or device configurations. Some of our source code licensees may opt to continue working on and releasing their own implementations. We will continue to support the current Android and PlayBook configurations with critical bug fixes and security updates."]