On Nov. 9, Adobe announced via its blog that it was ceasing development on the mobile version of its Flash plugin for web browsers. In other words, Flash for Android smartphones and tablets won't get any more updates, and is basically being abandoned.
The move angered some, and surprised many. ZDNet commentator Mary-Jo Foley publicly wondered whether or not Microsoft would remove support for its Silverlight plugin next. But for a variety of reasons, mobile Flash on Android has never been a good experience ... or at least not as good as the open web.
No uniform support for Android devices
Just because Android had "Flash" didn't mean that all Android devices had Flash equally. Smartphone and tablet users experienced the same site differently, because of screen sizes and processor speeds, and users of low- to medium-end smartphones were sometimes left out altogether. Some smartphones that supposedly had Flash rendered videos as broken icons, or let you tap on them to play them but crashed as soon as you did so.
No uniform support for websites
Because of technical limitations -- both of the Flash Player plugin and because of Android devices' processing power compared to PCs and Macs -- many Flash websites simply did not function on Android devices. If they did run, they often did so poorly. Besides that ...
Flash websites aren't designed for Android phones
As the late Steve Jobs explained in his essay, Thoughts on Flash, " Most Flash websites will need to be rewritten to support touch-based devices." The vast majority of Flash games and websites aren't designed to handle a touchscreen device, or the swiping, pinching, and other gestures used on one. They often require you to do things like roll a mouse cursor over parts of them, or use keys on a keyboard -- neither of which most Android devices have.
It's easier to make non-Flash websites accommodate Android devices
It's possible to design Flash websites to accommodate touchscreen devices. But doing so involves extra work, and Android phones can already access most normal websites just fine. Plus, there's a lot of support for designers who want to create a website especially for touchscreen devices without using Flash -- sometimes, only a free website plugin is needed.
Adobe had spent years working on mobile Flash
But even after all this time, the state of mobile Flash is still years behind the state of open web technologies like HTML5. These are supported by basically all mobile devices, and some (like the iPhone and iPad) only support them. As Adobe's blog post explained, " This makes HTML5 the best solution for creating and deploying content in the browser across mobile platforms."
Dropping support for mobile Flash "will allow [Adobe] to increase investment in HTML5," including HTML5 website authoring tools like Adobe Muse.
Jared Spurbeck is an open-source software enthusiast, who uses an Android phone and an Ubuntu laptop PC. He has been writing about technology and electronics since 2008.
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