Adobe Flash Coming to Windows Mobile

[Rocco Augusto]

<div class='os_post_top_link'><a href='http://www.mobilecrunch.com/2008/11/16/adobe-to-demo-flash-on-mobile-but-only-windows-still-working-on-the-iphone/' target='_blank'>http://www.mobilecrunch.com/2008/11...-on-the-iphone/</a><br /><br /></div><p><em>"Adobe&rsquo;s Flash Player is on 98 percent of all desktop computers, but it is still struggling to make the jump to mobile phones. If you want Flash on a mobile device, right now you have to settle for a compromised version: Flash Lite. But Adobe is committed to bring the full Flash Player experience to mobile phones, as evidenced by its Open Screen Project. On Monday, at its Adobe MAX developer conference, it will demonstrate Flash Player 10 running on a Windows Mobile phone. (However, Flash won&rsquo;t actually ship on Windows Mobile until late next year)."</em></p><p><img src="http://images.thoughtsmedia.com/resizer/thumbs/size/600/zt/auto/1227081509.usr8.jpg" /></p><p>Adobe MAX has come and gone and during that time Adobe has announced that would release Flash technology to the Windows Mobile platform and even demonstrated versions of Flash running on Windows Mobile and Google Android. It is really interesting to see Flash running on Google's Android platform as these handsets are virtually brand spanking new. It is amazing to see how quickly big name companies such as Adobe are jumping on consumer smartphone bandwagon since the release of the Apple iPhone and Google Android platforms. Sometimes I wish Microsoft could inspire that kind of innovation and excitement in the mobile industry. It is an incredibly exciting time to be a smartphone user, no matter which device or operating system is in your pocket. However I am still annoyed that it has taking this long for Adobe to get around to bringing Flash to our handsets.</p>

[Ed Hansberry]

eh... whatever. Not thrilled with Adobe on mobile devices. They have seemingly abandoned Adobe Reader on Windows Mobile.

[Pony99CA]

Sometimes I wish Microsoft could inspire that kind of innovation and excitement in the mobile industry. It is an incredibly exciting time to be a smartphone user, no matter which device or operating system is in your pocket. However I am still annoyed that it has taking this long for Adobe to get around to bringing Flash to our handsets.
As you alluded to, Flash Lite was available for the Smartphone platform (and you could get it to work with Opera, I believe).

There have also been versions of Flash (not Lite) available on the Pocket PC for a long time (although the versions were older than the one for the PC).

So I wouldn't say Adobe has taken so long getting Flash to handsets, just getting the full-featured, current version there. :)

Steve

[Pony99CA]

eh... whatever. Not thrilled with Adobe on mobile devices.
I'm also not sure I want a lot of Flash on mobile devices. Flash is way overused on normal Web sites, and I don't want to see that happen while mobile.

IMHO, Flash should be used for three things -- animations (like South Park), games and product demos. Developers who use it for user interfaces should be castrated to prevent polluting the gene pool. Aliph's Jawbone site and Coca Cola were like that, but seem to have seen the light and use more standard HTML now.

I'm not even sure why Flash video took off when there were already lots of video solutions out there (Real, Windows Media, etc.). Was it just because the Flash player had such high penetration on PCs?

Steve

[Rocco Augusto]

I'm not even sure why Flash video took off when there were already lots of video solutions out there (Real, Windows Media, etc.). Was it just because the Flash player had such high penetration on PCs?

Steve

That is exactly why Flash took off for video. Since Flash has a 98% penetration rate on Desktops it means there is a good chance that no matter when OS you're viewer is using they can watch your videos.

I would also like to go on the record and state that Adobe's previous dabbling in the world of Windows Mobile and Flash has been complete garbage and while I don't like Flash I am excited at the prospect of it being ported to WM in full.

[markerline]

Dear Readers:

In this thread there is a mention of Flash Lite availability for Mobile devices running Win Mobile. I have an HP iPAQ running Windows Mobile 6.1 Pro but I cannot view any pages with Flash on them. Is there a particular page that has Flash Lite on it that someone knows about so I can test it out? Is Flash Lite even installed by default on my smartphone?

Any help is greatly appreciated.

Sincerely,
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