Flash coming to mobile with help from Palm, RIM and Google

Today, Adobe is announcing Flash Player 10.1 and AIR for mobile devices. Coming first to Android devices in 2010, Adobe aims to bring the immersive full web experience to all mobiles devices, well all except its sworn mortal enemy: the iPhone. It seems Adobe is working with everyone but Apple to bring Flash to high performance devices.

Flash and AIR for devices will provide developers with a platform that is able to work across OS. Design an application for AIR and will run on Android, BlackBerry, Palm’s webOS and can even convert to an iPhone app. That means Adobe developers can avoid using the iPhone SDK to reach a maximum of devices. That is not what Apple wanted and is one of the reason’s Apple does not want Flash on the iPhone.

“With support for the Android™ platform expected in 2010, AIR provides developers with a feature-rich environment for delivering rich applications outside the mobile browser and across multiple operating systems via mobile marketplaces and app stores. AIR leverages mobile specific features from Flash® Player 10.1, is optimized for high performance on mobile screens and designed to take advantage of native device capabilities for a richer and more immersive user experience.”

The implications here could be huge for the iPhone and it’s enormous app store. If developers are designing for everyone, the iPhone exclusiveness begins to fade away. Companies with a smaller installed base, like Palm, will benefit from being part of the OS’s that support Flash and AIR. Overall, this could be a big win for developers who can focus less on customization for each OS variety.

Press Release: [Adobe]