Adobe: Flash Will Be Updated To Support ICS Before Year's End, But Not Future Versions Of Android

Earlier this month, Adobe announced that it would be halting development on the mobile version of Flash, which included support for Android devices. More recently, it was realized that the current version of Flash isn't compatible with Ice Cream Sandwich, leaving early adopters of the Galaxy Nexus without the ability to view flash content on the web.
Adobe has now confirmed that it will be bringing Flash to ICS devices before the end of 2011, but it will not support any version of Android past 4.0. Throughout the lifespan of ICS, Adobe will continue to push critical updates, bug fixes, and security updates to Flash for Android to ensure device security, but that will be the extent of development as far as mobile Flash is concerned.
Hopefully, but the time the "J" version of Android is released, HTML5 will have gained enough steam to be widely supported and take the place of Flash altogether, helping make the transition from Flash support to no Flash support as seamless as possible.
[via Pocket-Lint]

Read more »

Google Swiffy May Solve Future Mobile Flash Support

Google Swiffy Beta is a tool used to help developers convert their Adobe Flash content to HTML5. When Adobe finally decided to pull out from the mobile scene, we all wondered how Flash updates (if any at all) would hit our devices. The ability to play Flash content on cutting edge mobile devices is important for a complete browsing experience, and at the rate Android OS is growing and evolving, Flash compatibility is a must.

The tool has been out for a while now, but just recently developers using Adobe Flash Professional will notice Google Swiffy has been added as an extension. This directly follows their decision to cease mobile support for a reason: they want developers to continue using the Flash developer environment. Could future versions of Android perform instantaneous Flash conversions with Swiffy?
This would completely eliminate the need for a dedicated Adobe Flash application all together. Flash is not yet available for Android 4.0, and who knows if it will be? HTML5 is the future, Adobe knows it, and this is their sign of embracing it.
[via InfoWorld]

Read more »