What Adobe’s discontinuation of mobile Flash Player means for the web

Last week Adobe announced they will discontinue mobile Flash Player and no longer pursue bringing it to new mobile devices. It was a move most people in the tech and design industries knew had to be made, yet few expected Adobe to actually do it. There was a time, when computers were the only devices being used to browse the web, that Flash was the most valuable and effective tool for building rich, interactive websites. But in today’s world of low-power touchscreen smartphones and tablets, Flash simply doesn’t fit in.

Many of the reasons Flash is past its prime were eloquently described by the late Steve Jobs in his open letter, “Thoughts on Flash.” In the end, Adobe conceded that Flash isn’t appropriate for mobile. Instead, the company will focus on helping developers make native apps and HTML5-powered websites.

This is good news all around, especially for those who advocate using open standards on the web. HTML5 is governed by a standards committee made up of many of the biggest players in technology. Their shared goal is to help advance HTML5 for everyone’s benefit. Flash Player and the tools needed to create Flash content, on the other hand, are controlled solely by Adobe. Their goal is to sell more software and services.

Also, viewing HTML5 websites doesn’t require installing any plugins. In contrast, users must install Flash Player themselves and carry the burden of keeping it up-to-date to protect their device from the latest security threats. There are significant performance and power consumption issues to consider as well.

Adobe took a big step abandoning Flash Player for mobile devices. It’s a huge change in direction for their business model and, more importantly, the future of the web itself. While Flash Player is still being developed for PCs and Macs (for now), the message is clear: Don’t use Flash if you want a wide audience to see your website’s content.

Tags: internet trends, web design

This entry was posted on Friday, November 18th, 2011 at 6:07 pm and is filed under Web Technology. You can follow any responses to this entry through the RSS 2.0 feed. You can leave a response, or trackback from your own site.