Most smart phones to get Adobe Flash Player 10 next year

By Marguerite Reardon on 16 February 2009, 10:38am

A fully fledged version of Adobe Flash Player is coming soon to a slew of smart phones. Unfortunately, Apple's iPhone isn't one of them.

Adobe announced at the Mobile World Congress in Barcelona on Monday that Flash Player 10, the full version of Flash that runs on PCs, will be available on smart phones running Windows Mobile, Google's Android, Nokia S60/Symbian, and the new Palm operating system. Devices with Flash Player 10 are expected to hit the market from early 2010.

The company has worked for years on a lightweight incarnation of its Flash Player technology for mobile phones. Adobe executives said that about 40 per cent of all phones shipped today use this version of its technology. But because Flash Lite doesn't allow for the same functionality as that which is available with the Flash Player 10 desktop version of the technology, mobile users are missing out.

In November, chief technology officer Kevin Lynch told attendees at Adobe's Max conference in San Francisco that the company would bring the fully fledged Flash Player 10 to smart phones.

Even though Flash 10 will be available for most smart phones early next year, the technology still remains on the wish list for iPhone users. But Adobe executives have said that it's coming.

"We would love to see it on the iPhone too," said Anup Murarka, director of technology strategy and partner development for Adobe. "But it's Apple's decision on when and how they support any new technology. So we will continue to work on it."

Earlier this year, Adobe chief executive Shantanu Narayen said the company has had technical difficulties finding a workable version of Flash for the iPhone. But he said the two companies were continuing to work on it.

"It's a hard technical challenge, and that's part of the reason Apple and Adobe are collaborating," Narayen said. "The ball is in our court. The onus is on us to deliver."