Adobe Flash has been beaten up a little bit over the last couple of years, but today it was announced that Flash will be joining the Google team with the Ice Cream Sandwich update. The mobile Flash Player should be ready to run on Google’s Android 4.0 in the next couple of weeks. In earlier news Adobe announced it would be halting its mobile flash player software, but it looks like it will still support what is available with the new operating system from Google.
Greg DeMichillie told eWeek.com, “Adobe will release one more version of the Flash Player for mobile browsing, which will provide support for Android 4.0, and one more release of the Flash Linux Porting Kit – both expected to be released before the end of this year. After that time, Adobe will continue to provide critical bug fixes and security updates.” Adobe’s plans after the last build is complete will be focusing 100 percent on HTML5 as it is becoming more accepted for mobile devices
Danny Winokur posted earlier this month about the announcement and in it said, “HTML5 is now universally supported on major mobile devices, in some cases exclusively. This makes HTML5 the best solution for creating and deploying content in the browser across mobile platforms. We are excited about this, and will continue our work with key players in the HTML community, including Google, Apple, Microsoft and RIM, to drive HTML5 innovation they can use to advance their mobile browsers.” Support for the latest Flash version will continue and it shows that Adobe is committed to supplying it as well. Google has been on board with Flash since 2010 and it was likely because Apple devices do not support flash and supporting it was a good way to distance you from the competition.
Google has been slowly and quietly shifting their entire collection of core applications like Calendars, Gmail and Google Docs over to HTML5 over the last couple of years. HTML5 is providing some of the more smooth elements within those applications and Google is experimenting with HTML5 on their Google Chrome Browser. Chrome will be a perfect showcase for some of the prettier elements that HTML5 brings to the table. Some Android phones will be shipped without the new Flash Player, but they will get the support shortly after the ship date.
