Adobe has announced it will cease development on Mobile Flash. Arguments about proprietary technologies vs. open standards aside (but still valid), Adobe is finally admitting what Apple and other critics have been saying all along: Flash just doesn’t work well on mobile devices.
The end result of this will be the marginalization of Flash on the desktop/laptop as well — it simply won’t make sense for most developers to create two versions of their offerings, especially as mobile devices increase as a percentage of web traffic. The converse was true, too. Had Apple relented and supported Flash on iOS, there would have been no incentive for developers to offer standards-based versions of their sites and we’d all be enduring a much poorer experience.
You can read about the decision on Adobe’s blog, but good luck finding the facts in the obfuscated marketing speak that passes for a post. Instead, read ZDNet’s Jason Perlow, who broke the story earlier today.