Google, RIM join Open Screen Project

Google and RIM have thrown their weight behind Adobe's push towards unifying the fixed and mobile web experiences.
 
Both companies have joined Adobe's Open Screen Project, an initiative to help application developers design content for the web across PCs, netbooks and smartphones using Adobe’s popular Flash software
 
Adobe and RIM also revealed they will team up to port Flash to BlackBerry.
 
Apple remains the only major device player on the sidelines of the project.
 
Adobe has said in the past it is working with the device-maker, but neither has commented on its continued refusal to support Flash.
 
In the official Google blog, SVP of engineering Bill Coughran said the move is an extension of the company's long-standing collaboration with Adobe.
 
“Some of our most exciting projects such as YouTube, Android, Google Chrome and even Google web search require close integration with Adobe's technologies,” he said.
 
The Open Screen Project was announced in 2008 as a $10 million joint initiative between Adobe and a group of handset developers. The group now has nearly 50 members, including Nokia, Intel and Samsung.
 
Adobe announced the new project members on the same day as it unveiled version 10.1 of its Adobe Flash Player, the first full-featured iteration of the software designed for both PCs and mobile devices.
 
The company said it expects public betas for Android and Symbian OS to be available in early 2010.
 
There are more than 800 million mobile devices running Flash Lite, Adobe said last month, and the company expects that figure to reach a billion by the end of the year.