Adobe announced yesterday that it is finally releasing a version of it’s omni-present flash player for cell phones. According to Adobe the Flash player is currently installed on 98% of all PCs. The multimedia engine currently provides millions of users and websites with a media-rich web experience. Flash drives animation, sound and video on most websites that are currently using anything but plain text and images. But until now that same experience is difficult to replicate on a handset.
Now Adobe will release a version of the player that allows a similar video and sound expereince on the tiny screen. The new Flash version, named Flash Lite, will work on just about every smartphone on the market - compatible cell phone operating systems include Symbian, Windows Mobile, and Google’s Android.
Conspicuousy absent is support from the iPhone. It seems Steve Jobs will continue down Apple’s solo path of vertical dominance. Want your website and software to play nice with iPhone users? You’ll need to develop using Apple’s development studio for iPhones and distribute via iTunes. Want to play nice with every other handset user in the world? Develop using Flash Lite.
So what about you and your website?
Well, until Jobs and company decide to join the masses website operators will be forced to consider multiple delivery options for their rich-media software for handsets. There’s the iPhone… and everyone else.
Hi Kevin — I’ve seen your “tech talk” appearances on tv so thought I’d look up your web site. I was psyched to find this blog, hope you don’t mind if I use it to pick your brain…
I’m planning to start a blog with a buddy of mine — he’s a professional journalist on hiatus from the crumbling world of newspapers and I’m a corporate lawyer longing to write something other than legal briefs. A few months ago, in honor of a friend’s upcoming bachelor party and wedding, we set up and ran a simple little amatuer blog through blogspot, and now we’re both hooked. We’re looking to ramp it up with something more elaborate that covers politics, pop culture, and a few other more unique elements, with the goal to start making some money within 6 months. We know that blogging for profit is like catching lightning in a bottle, but for a combination of reasons we feel pretty good about our chances. What are your thoughts, suggestions, etc, and are there any resources you would point us toward as we get started? Does your company design/host sites like this (we can talk offline about your fees - you have my email from my post), or would you recommend we stick with the cookie-cutter free blog-hosting sites? Whatever insights you might be able to share would be appreciated. Thanks.