Adobe introduces Flash Player for almost all smartphones

Adobe announced Flash 10.1 on Monday. The new version of Flash can run not only on Windows, Linux and Mac OS X, but also on all major smartphone platforms, except iPhone OS. Betas will appear in the near future.

Beta versions for Windows Mobile and WebOS coming later this year, those for Symbian and Android coming early next year, made Adobe known. The version for Blackberry’s is also on the way. The official introduction of Flash for smartphones is expected in the middle of next year.

All known smartphone platforms except iPhone OS are supported according to the announcement, while the software maker said early this year that Flash for the iPhone was coming. It is unknown whether Adobe will bring Flash to the iPhone.

Flash 10.1 includes support for HD video and streaming via HTTP. For this, the web technology relies on the video chip in the chipset of the smartphone. In addition, the full support of Flash on smartphones allows mobile browsers to properly display sites developed for desktops. Flash 10.1 can also handle multitouch, motion sensors and onscreen keyboards. Until now, many smartphones were equipped with Flash Lite, a stripped-down version of Flash.

The HTC Hero, an Android device released earlier this year, was the first smartphone to support the full version of Flash. However, the Flash content that the Hero could play was Flash 9 and not Flash 10.