Adobe is launching this new version of Flash at its MAX conference this week in Los Angeles. Flash 10.1 will support mobile capabilities like multi-touch and accelerometers. Adobe says software depiction performance on mobile has improved by more than 87 percent, memory consumption has dropped 55 percent, and Flash 10.1 also conserves battery life. Many of smartphone partners, BlackBerry’s maker Research in Motion, are already on board. The iPhone, however, will not be compatible with the Flash Player 10.1 edition.
Adobe says Flash already powers 75 percent of web video and 70 percent of online games, and in April 2008 it announced an initiative called the Open Screen Project to try for similar dominance on mobile phones. Development on Flash Player 10, which was released a year ago, was already nearing completion, so 10.1 is the first version developed with Adobe’s new mobile focus in mind. The company says this is the first full version of that works on both mobile devices and PCs.
This news could put pressure one Apple in a couple ways. First, if every smartphone but the iPhone can support Flash content, the iPhone is going to look comparatively inadequate. This might give Apple the incentive to work with Adobe to resolve whatever problems linger.
It seems to me that if the two power companies could work together, both Adobe and Apple would benefit.
