Android ICS and Flash
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As hinted in Adobe’s announcement that it would stop developing the Flash Player for mobile devices, the next official version of Android will be supported, but that’ll pretty much be it.
In ‘Android Update Keeps Flash Advantage’, Forbe’s reports, “Google‘s Android Ice Cream Sandwich OS will receive Flash support, sustaining one of the platform’s biggest advantages over iOS for a bit longer.” And Pocket-Lint seems to have had an official line from Adobe with a bit more detail.
Additionally, as also hinted in Adobe’s previous releases, there remains the option for OEMs to continue Flash development for their own specific platforms. RIM is currently pursuing this path for their playbook, according to The Register, “RIM has negotiated a deal with Adobe to continue developing embedded Flash for its QNX-based BBX platform…”
So overall, this means that – as we mentioned in previous posts – Flash is not dead…at least not for a few years…and it is still a viable delivery approach for Android devices. This is a Good Thing, of course, because HTML5 development tools, browser support, and the specification itself are not yet ready for prime time. It’s critical that some method of a true interactive, multimedia experience by continued while HTML5 issues are hammered out.
We here at ICS have been playing with developing apps for mobile devices and have a few ‘proof of concepts’ in the workshop. We know we can deliver a solid eLearning experience and are currently evaluating internal initiatives for developing such courseware. If you are interested in having a mobile eLearning project developed, give us a call!
(by the way, pretty cool that Android’s next version is named after our company, no?! 😉