SAN JOSE, Calif. — Adobe this week said it will no longer develop Flash for mobile devices and instead will focus on HTML 5.
“We will no longer continue to develop Flash Player in the browser to work with new mobile device configurations (chipset, browser, OS version, etc.) following the upcoming release of Flash Player 11.1 for Android and BlackBerry PlayBook,” the company said.
The company will, however, continue to provide "critical bug fixes and security updates" for existing devices running the software. Those licensing the source code can also still work on and release their own implementations.
Adobe said that its future work with Flash on mobile devices will focus on enabling Flash developers to package native apps with Adobe AIR for all the major app stores.
“These changes will allow us to increase investment in HTML5 and innovate with Flash where it can have most impact for the industry, including advanced gaming and premium video,” the company said.
The company added that HTML 5 is now universally supported on major mobile devices making it the best solution for creating and deploying content in the browser across mobile platforms.
“We are excited about this, and will continue our work with key players in the HTML community, including Google, Apple, Microsoft and RIM, to drive HTML5 innovation they can use to advance their mobile browsers.”
The company said its already working on Flash Player 12 and a new round of features, “which we expect to again advance what is possible for delivering high definition entertainment experiences.
“We will continue to leverage our experience with Flash to accelerate our work with the W3C and WebKit to bring similar capabilities to HTML5 as quickly as possible, just as we have done with CSS Shaders.”
Adobe said it will design new features in Flash for a smooth transition to HTML 5 as the standards evolve.