Adobe has reportedly confirmed that its Flash technology is coming to Apple's iPhone.
(Credit: CNET.com)
Flash Magazine confirmed with Adobe Systems' senior director of engineering, Paul Betlem, that Flash was coming to the handset. However, Betlem said that "Apple calls the shots as to when it'll be available".
In mid-June, Adobe's CEO said that company already had Flash running on an iPhone emulator (which could be the same emulator included with Apple's iPhone software development kit).
Flash performance and usage has so far been abysmal on current mobile devices that support playback.
Mobile device processors haven't been fast enough to handle most Flash-laden sites. Flash Lite, the scaled down standard designed specifically for mobile devices, has even too much for most devices, and isn't widely used.
This is great news for anyone wanting to deliver brand experiences on mobile phones – it’s just a shame we still don’t know when it will happen. The powerful combination of the iPhone interface with the rich interactivity of Flash is something agencies, marketers and consumers will find hard to resist. Interestingly, we can also envisage a potential cost saving for clients as pre-existing Flash content is repurposed for mobile.
At present, it looks like there is only talk about the Flash plug-in on the Safari web browser. As such, Flash widgets per se are not really on the cards yet. Native iPhone widgets/applications in Flash are still a good while away, but we wait with anticipation for the opportunity to use this new technology.
www.collectivelondon.com