Flash 10.1 coming to all Smartphones
Created by hasan.kamal under General Discussion
Flash has been the bane of many software developers and hardware engineers, an inherently resource intensive program along with a rather difficult technology to master, it has become the darling child of the Internet. It has acquired the status of a necessary evil in Web development. The ease and multitude of options available in Flash programming let developers program with relative impunity while hardware specialists scream at the resource intensive nature of Flash.
Regardless, of the benefits and disadvantages of Flash, Adobe has announced full support for all smartphones. This is an important update for iPhone users who have not had Flash support for certain applications leaving them locked out of a total user experience on their iPhones. Joining the fray is Google’s Android platform along with webOS for Palm and RIM’s OS for BlackBerry’s.
However, a recent change of mind in the hearts of Apple seems to have lead to the fact that there will be no Flash support for the iPhone. Some individuals are quite happy with the lack of Flash support since it will stop the Flash based ads from appearing in certain apps, however, it still does lock out a total user experience on the overall web experience.
“Adobe and Research In Motion 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 (OSP) initiative.”
Again, an important development in this scenario is the backing of Adobe to bring Flash to RIM. Used extensively by business professionals, it has come as a welcome addition for some of the developers who have wanted to use the BlackBerry OS as a development platform.
One of the major upsides of this new update are cellphone manufacturers who plan to release a slew of phones before the holiday season. Motorola and Nokia both have high-end phones coming out that allow Flash based support such as the Cliq, N-series and E-series. This will be a major help in boosting sales of phones during this holiday season which promises to be a good sign of recovery for the world economy.
Apple’s refusal to allow Flash support on its phones may be a critical issue considering that the appeal of the iPhone slowly starting to saturate and the availability of cheaper and more appealing phones. Motorola and HTC are offering phones that are significantly more powerful and open sourced in comparison to iPhones. Google’s business direction seems to be challenging iPhone directly with more powerful phones and a strategic decision to collaborate with Verizon to provide high-end quality phones to CDMA customers. Again, the CDMA market does not have the option of the iPhone, however, Google’s Android compatible phones are being pushed on to the Verizon network which has an extremely loyal customer base and fairly reliable perception amongst consumers. AT&T is already facing a slew of problems with regards to reliability when receiving calls on the iPhone. Google’s Android platform may receive the much needed boost that it wants and needs to become the next dominant smartphone OS.
What do you think? Will Flash dictate consumer choices? Will Apple’s decision haunt them as time progresses? Leave your comment and thoughts below.