Adobe Releases Flash 10.1 To Phone Manufacturers

Adobe pulled a fast one a bit back and said they will only release Flash 10.1 to manufacturers in the first half of this year. They just announced that it was released to Google, RIM, & other manufacturers today so they made it by their revised deadline. Adobe announced that they have released Flash Player 10.1 to mobile platform partners which includes RIM and expects it to be made available over the air and preloaded in the next few months.

I am really curious to see these new high performance features that Adobe has promised in Flash 10.1 for mobile. It supposedly allows for landscape and portrait mode where you can zoom into the content like a website. Supposedly it also supports hardware acceleration to make efficient use of CPU and battery constraints. I am not sure how great the Flash experience will be for mobile devices but it will be interesting. Just don’t expect all Flash content to work beautifully on your BlackBerry. I just hope that all video streaming sites will work out of the box…

Check out the press release below if you are interested in the full details:

SAN JOSE, Calif., Jun 22, 2010 (BUSINESS WIRE) — Adobe Systems Incorporated /quotes/comstock/15*!adbe/quotes/nls/adbe (ADBE 32.74, -0.02, -0.07%) today announced the release of Adobe(R) Flash(R) Player 10.1 to mobile platform partners. Redesigned from the ground up with new performance and mobile specific features, Flash Player 10.1 is the first release that brings the full Web across desktops and devices. Mobile users will now be able to experience millions of sites with rich applications and content inside the browser including games, animations, rich Internet applications (RIAs), data presentations and visualizations, ecommerce, music, video, audio and more.

Already one of the top free apps on Android(TM) Market today, Flash Player 10.1 will be available as a final production release for smart phones and tablets once users are able to upgrade to Android 2.2 "Froyo." Devices supporting "Froyo" and Flash Player 10.1 are expected to include the Dell Streak, Google Nexus One, HTC Evo, HTC Desire, HTC Incredible, DROID by Motorola, Motorola Milestone, Samsung Galaxy S and others. Flash Player 10.1 was also released to mobile platform partners to be supported on devices based on Android, BlackBerry, webOS, future versions of Windows(R) Phone, LiMo, MeeGo and Symbian OS, and is expected to be made available via over-the-air downloads and to be pre-installed on smart phones, tablets and other devices in the coming months.

"We are thrilled that more than three million Flash designers and developers are now able to unleash their creativity on the world of smart phones, tablets, netbooks, televisions and other consumer electronics," said David Wadhwani, general manager and vice president, Platform Business at Adobe. "The combined power of the leading rich media technology platform with millions of passionate creatives is sure to impact the world in ways we haven’t even imagined yet."

Broad Partner Support

Device and technology partners including ARM, Brightcove, Dell, Google, HTC, Intel, Microsoft, Motorola, NVIDIA, Qualcomm, RIM, Samsung, Texas Instruments and others announced more specifics around their support for Flash Player 10.1 today.

Content publishers including AgencyNet, AKQA, Armor Games, Atlantic Records, Blitz, CNET.com, HBO, JustinTV, Kongregate, Mattel, Mochi Media, Msnbc Digital Network, Turner, Nickelodeon, Odopod, Photobucket, RAIN, Roundarch, Sony Pictures, South Park Studios, USA Network, Viacom, Warner Brothers and many others have also started to optimize Flash content to deliver the best possible experience within the context of smaller screens, which includes larger buttons for interactions, layout adjustments for mobile screens and more.

For details visit www.adobe.com/go/flashquote_sheet_101 or m.flash.com, Adobe’s showcase site for optimized Flash content. For more information on how to optimize Flash content for mobile, visit www.adobe.com/go/fpmobile .

New High Performance Features

Completely redesigned and optimized for mobile, Flash Player 10.1 delivers new interaction methods with support for mobile-specific input models. Support for accelerometer allows users to view Flash content in landscape and portrait mode. With Smart Zooming, users can scale content to full screen mode delivering immersive application-like experiences from a Web page. Performance optimization work with virtually all major mobile silicon and platform vendors makes efficient use of CPU and battery performance.

The new Smart Rendering feature ensures that Flash content is running only when it becomes visible on the screen, further reducing CPU and battery consumption. With Sleep Mode, Flash Player automatically slows down when the device transitions into screen saver mode. Advanced Out-of-Memory Management allows the player to effectively handle non-optimized content that consumes excessive resources, while automatic memory reduction decreases content usage of RAM by up to 50 percent. Flash Player pauses automatically when events occur such as incoming phone calls or switching from the browser to other device functions. Once users switch back to the browser, Flash Player resumes where it paused.

Industry Analyst Feedback

"Although it is labeled a dot release, Flash Player 10.1 is a significant update that includes a number of new performance and mobile specific features," said Al Hilwa, program director of the Application Development Program at IDC. "This allows consumers to see a much bigger part of the Web and allows developers to bring their Flash Platform skills to a much bigger swath of devices."

"For the past few weeks I have had the opportunity to test an Android Froyo device loaded with a beta of Flash Player 10.1," said Ben Bajarin, principal analyst at Creative Strategies. "The overall experience and performance of Flash has been impressive. Mobile users now have access to full Web pages with rich Flash content on millions of sites. With the new mobile specific features, developers also have an important opportunity to help shape the way Web content, games, touch capabilities and more are presented across platforms and devices as Froyo and other platforms deliver full Flash support."

Additional Resources

To watch demo videos of Flash Player 10.1 running across devices, including smart phones and tablets, visit www.adobe.com/devnet/devices/demos .

Availability

Flash Player 10.1 is expected to be available as a final production release for devices once users are able to upgrade to Android 2.2 "Froyo." Once upgraded, smart phones, tablets and other devices can be updated with Flash Player 10.1 over-the-air via numerous ways including content triggered downloads, system software updates and on-device app catalogs such as Android Market, Adobe Labs and other venues. The upgrade mechanism will vary by device and device manufacturer. The desktop version of Flash Player 10.1 for Windows, Mac OS and Linux is available on http://get.adobe.com/flashplayer today.

About Adobe Systems Incorporated

Adobe revolutionizes how the world engages with ideas and information — anytime, anywhere and through any medium. For more information, visit www.adobe.com .

(C) 2010 Adobe Systems Incorporated. All rights reserved. Adobe, the Adobe logo, and Flash are either registered trademarks or trademarks of Adobe Systems Incorporated in the United States and/or other countries. DROID is a trademark of Lucasfilm Ltd. and its related companies. Used under license. All other trademarks including Windows, Macintosh, and Linux are the property of their respective owners.