Adobe Systems clarified it remains on schedule to release its Flash Player 10.1 for mobile solution during the first half of 2010 after comments made by CEO Shantanu Narayen were widely misinterpreted to indicate the firm would delay the launch until the second half of the year. "Adobe is still on track on making Flash Player 10.1 for mobile platforms including Android available before the end of the first half of 2010," Adobe spokesperson Stefan Offermann told FierceDeveloper via email. The confusion arises from a comment made by Narayen during a recent appearance on Fox Business, where he said "Smartphone companies like Google and RIM and Palm are going to be releasing versions of Flash on smartphones and tablets in the second half of the year." In other words, while Adobe's partners will not deploy Flash Player 10.1 until later this year, Adobe itself is still on target.
Flash Player 10.1 is touted as the first version of the Flash runtime enabling Android, BlackBerry, Windows Phone 7, webOS and Symbian devices to play back the majority of Flash-based content originally written for the web. A Flash Blog posting by Adobe platform evangelist Lee Brimelow notes developers can sign up now for notification when Flash Player 10.1 and Adobe AIR 2.0 betas are released. Specific dates were not disclosed. "We just started the private betas and we are really looking forward to getting these technologies into your hands as soon as possible," Brimelow writes. "There are going to be so many interesting things that you will be able to do on Android and there are also going to be many new skills that you will need to learn, especially if you are new to mobile design."
For more on the status of Flash Player 10.1:
- read this Apple Insider article
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