Category Archives: Mobile

More Thoughts on Mobile Flash Player and Adobe

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So, basically – here is what is happening:

  • Adobe is halting development on the mobile web browser version of Flash Player for Android. This effectively places Android on the same level as iOS so far as Flash Player goes for the future.
  • They are doing this as part of a massive reorg to shift resources to mobile AIR on Android and iOS. Mobile AIR is the solution I have been working with in my books, recorded materials, and as a developer. I have never targeted the mobile Flash Player.
  • IMPORTANT: Flash through mobile AIR on iOS, Android, Blackberry is going nowhere and is being given more resources. Again, this is what I’ve been working with – not mobile Flash Player in the browser.
  • Mobile Flash Player 11 is not going away on Android – but if Android handsets want to continue with new versions, they must license the source and compile for their customers. It will remain available for download and use in the meantime.
  • Mobile Flash Player source is being licensed to those who wish to compile for their own platforms (like Blackberry does now). So mobile Flash Player may not be going away at all. Depends on partners.
  • Adobe is also furthering efforts in HTML through projects like Dreamweaver, jQuery and WebKit contributions, Apache CallBack (PhoneGap), and notably their HTML/CSS/JS motion and interactivity solution; Adobe Edge, of which I am intimately familiar. I would like to think I have a balanced perspective in all this.
  • Adobe has received, over the past 36 hours, MASSIVE backlash from customers and the community. Many are hoping for some sort of policy reversal, though most of the pain has come from a really AWFUL PR job by Adobe themselves and the resulting fallout by media outlets who do not get their facts right, leaning instead toward sensationalism.
  • A number of Adobe employees in the education, evangelism, and runtimes teams have reached out to me. I appreciate the willingness to talk and good-will exhibited by these individuals.

Feel free to share this with anyone who wants more plain facts than press outlets are spouting.

Mobile Flash Player: RIP

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It’s been an uphill battle since “Thoughts on Flash” and this year things were finally leveling off. I was getting buy-in from important pockets of my organization and now Adobe’s message has utterly annihilated all the work I’ve done putting mobile Flash in a positive light. I’m not wasting any more time convincing people if Adobe itself isn’t standing behind the technology.

We will no longer continue to develop Flash Player in the browser to work with new mobile device configurations (chipset, browser, OS version, etc.) following the upcoming release of Flash Player 11.1 for Android and BlackBerry PlayBook.

Now, instead of saying “Sure! We can do that in Flash!” – I’ll have to say “Well, HTML cannot do what you want, sorry… maybe we can just take expectations for this web app down a few notches?” Really, really sad state of affairs – especially when considering that mobile Flash Player works really well on the devices I use regularly.

I’ve never targeted mobile Flash Player for application development – have always done desktop Flash Player and AIR desktop or AIR mobile. However, being able to reassure clients that their desktop web project was accessible on mobile phones and tablets over certain platforms was often enough to convince them to go with Flash Player for certain advanced website functionality. Personally, I LOVE being able to view browser-based Flash content on my mobile devices.

Most all of my books, videos, and whatnot over the past year or so have revolved around AIR and mobile… so while it definitely does excite me to think that more resources can be placed into furthering AIR on mobile, as a user of mobile Flash and a strong advocate of mobile Flash across Android, QNX, and beyond… this decision absolutely weakens the perception people have for the rest of the platform.

The way in which Adobe just dropped the news on loyal customers after years of gathering pretty strong support from the Open Screen Project and other partners is probably the worst part in all of this. I’ve written a lot on mobile and Flash on this weblog. I’ve written how Steve Jobs is wrong, how Flash on mobile works well, et cetera… I stand by my previous statements.

I love what Adobe is doing with Flash Player 11 and AIR 3. I have 2 eBooks scheduled for publication by O’Reilly next week on both these topics. I’m also doing work with Adobe Edge and various elements of the “open web stack” – so I get that it’s important to support all of these solutions… it just feels so much like an ill-informed blood-sacrifice to dismiss mobile Flash Player in this manner. I think Peter Elst put it best with his analogy of removing a limb. Seems very unnecessary and Adobe has done great harm to many core supporters in the community and with outside perceptions.

I’m really floored by this decision. I hope I am wrong in my analysis. Thibault Imbert and Lee Brimelow seem to think that this is a good move. They are the ones that know for sure… or at least they are better informed than I…

It’ll be interesting to see how this plays out.

Some additional articles on the subject (both positive and negative):

Flash to Focus on PC Browsing and Mobile Apps; Adobe to More Aggressively Contribute to HTML5

Flash to Focus on Apps for Mobile

Focusing

Et tu, Adobe? Flash Player homicide

Flash Player Mobile, a Post Mortem.

Adobe abandons mobile Flash development

Without mobile, Adobe Flash is irrelevant

Adobe’s November 9th Case Study in Message Failure

OccupyAdobe

Clarifications on Flash Player for Mobile Browsers, the Flash Platform, and the Future of Flash

My Thoughts on Flash and HTML (as Expressed in an Email to “Tech News Today”)

AXNA Feed Reader

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AXNA Feed Reader

Distilled data feed from the Adobe XML News Aggregator!
Pulls relevant data feeds from the Adobe XML News Aggregator (AXNA) at http://feeds.adobe.com/ – an invaluable community resource. This data is distilled into smart categories and present to the user for easy perusal.

I’ve gotten a lot of great info from AXNA – and I’m sure many other souls have gained great knowledge from this resource as well. in creating a demonstration for an upcoming set of lessons on Flash Builder and Flex, I began to see the benefit of making this application available to the community at large.

I do plan on making the source for this available, and also to distribute the app to other platforms aside from Android. This is beta (a few hours work) – but it is a good start.

Grab it from the Android Market

UPDATE:
Here’s a demo video…

Adobe Press: Mobile Development with Flash Professional CS5.5

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I’m happy to announce that I’ve undertaken a new authoring project for Adobe Press along with co-author Peter Elst and video2brain! The project is titled Mobile Development with Flash Professional CS5.5 and Flash Builder 4.5 : Learn by Video and is available for preorder on the Adobe Press website and at Amazon.com.

At this point, I’m nearly half-way through recording my video segments for the project and feel as though everything is coming together really nicely. I’m using Flash Professional for most of my segments, although the lessons Peter is working on will cover Flash Builder as well. While the Flash Professional code editor definitely leaves something to be desired after doing so much work with Flash Builder, I’m finding the focus on Flash Pro to be a rather welcome one for myself. I expect recording to be completed during the first week of June.

Anyhow- this makes two major publications so far this year- both of them on topics that I just cannot get enough of!

Note that I’ve set up a page to include information for all my publications over at http://josephlabrecque.com/books/.

Mobile Development with Flash Professional CS5.5 and Flash Builder 4.5 : Learn by Video

Authors: video2brain, Peter Elst, Joseph Labrecque
Publisher: Adobe Press; 1 edition (August 26, 2011)
ISBN-10: 0321788109
ISBN-13: 978-0321788108

Mobile Development with Flash Professional CS5.5

After an industry debate that made headlines for months, designers and developers can use their Adobe Flash Professional, Flex, and ActionScript skills to quickly begin developing applications for the iPhone, iPad, and iPod touch, as well as for Android devices. In this in-depth course, you’ll learn from the ground up how to set up your system to become a mobile developer, create applications, and master each step of the publishing process.

Where to buy?