Adobe Calls it Quits for Mobile Flash

Somewhere, Steve Jobs is laughing.

The recently passed Apple leader openly disliked Adobe’s mobile Flash technology, so much that it was infamously banned from all iOS devices.  He also predicted its demise in the coming future, in a 1,500 word note to the public examining the relationship between the two companies, and it seems that his predictions will indeed be coming true.

According to an email sent to Adobe partners, the company has signaled an end to all future development for Flash player on new mobile devices, turning to another application packaging program and redirecting focus to meeting the HTML5 protocol.

The email, originally obtained by ZDNET, read, “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.”

Flash has often been criticized for its compatibility with mobile devices, despite its success and near ubiquity across desktop PCs.  However, the application has proven to be a battery drain on portable computing devices, and often times unstable in basic operation.

Past attempts to make a suitable mobile platform on Android and Blackberry OS failed to perform consistently on any of the compatible devices.  According to Wired.com’s Mike Issac, when the tech source tested the BlackBerry PlayBook in April, Flash caused the browser to crash on a consistent basis.

Software developer Dan Florio was quoted writing in a blog post, “Adobe has lost so much credibility with the community that I’m hoping they are bought by someone else that can bring some stability and eventually some credibility back to the Flash Platform.”

If the lack of Flash compatibility was keeping you from pursuing an iPad rental, it seems there will be little holding you back now. To learn more about renting tablets for professional use, contact Vernon Computer Source.