In what will surely come as good news to iPhone and iPod owners long-frustrated over not being able to watch some video and other content on their devices, Adobe Systems says it will no longer offer its Flash software for games and Internet video on mobile browsers.
That's been one of the major gripes of Apple customers – the company has never allowed Flash to run on the iPhone or iPad, with the late CEO Steve Jobs once saying that Flash was a relic of the PC era not appropriate for mobile devices. It appears that stubbornness has won out. Popularity of Apple products forced Adobe to make the decision to abandon some uses of Flash; it will still operate in PC browsers and on some mobile apps.
Adobe CFO Mark Garrett put a good spin on it for Newsday, saying it's not so much a loss to Apple as it is giving customers what they want. Adobe plans to increase its focus on HTML5, the new standard on which most websites are built.
BlackBerry-maker Research In Motion said Thursday that despite Adobe's decision, it will continue to use Flash on its tablet PC, the PlayBook. But it too will pursue the HTML5 standard.
Adobe also announced a significant change to its business model, with a heavier focus on digital content and marketing. Rather than just deliver software tools for digital-content creation, the company wants to help businesses both create content and make money from it via marketing efforts.
