Adobe is ceasing development of Flash for mobile browsers, and will instead focus on native apps and HTML5 after apparently giving up in its attempt to create a stable version of its technology on portable devices.
In an email sent to its partners passed to ZDNet, the company writes: "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 cofigurations."
The move is on one hand a curious one, given that recent tests showed that Flash consistently outperformed HTML5 on mobile devices, but it has long been expected that HTML5 will eventually take Flash's place as the browser standard. Late last month YoYo Games told us it was backing HTML5, saying: "It’s not going to be long before HTML5 starts overtaking. [All the browsers are] trying to out-do each other, which Flash doesn’t really have - nobody’s really pushing Adobe that much."
The company will continue to issue bug fixes and security updates for Flash on Android and Blackberry Playbook. A formal announcement is expected in the next few days.
Source: ZDNet
Comments
1Adobe: "Whew. He's gone. You can stop now."