Archive for November, 2011

Flash Player and AIR Support for the Galaxy Nexus

Posted on November 28, 2011 by Alex Dewey | Comments (0)

We’ve received some questions regarding support for Adobe Flash Player 11.1 and AIR 3.1 on the Galaxy Nexus. To be clear, the Galaxy Nexus does not initially support Adobe Flash Player 11.1 and AIR 3.1. As we previously communicated in a blog post, devices and software updates from our partners which introduce new technologies are being developed on varied schedules that are different from our own, which means that the Adobe runtimes may not always be optimized or supported on devices until a subsequent release. We will provide a minor update to the runtimes to support the Galaxy Nexus in December.

Greg DeMichillie is the Senior Director of Product Management for Interactive Development

Adobe Flash Player 11.1 and Adobe AIR 3.1 are Now Available!

Posted on November 10, 2011 by Tom Nguyen | Comments (8)

As a follow-up to the highly anticipated release of Adobe Flash Player 11 and Adobe AIR 3, which included next-generation technologies like the gorgeous, cinematic 2D and 3D hardware accelerated graphics of Stage 3D, we’re pleased to announce the availability of Flash Player 11.1 and Adobe AIR 3.1 for desktops and mobile devices.

As we communicated yesterday, we see a very bright future for both Flash and HTML5. We’re committed to helping Flash developers deliver stunning, immersive experiences across devices — helping you reach over a billion people across desktop browsers and create Flash-based apps to reach over 350 million smartphones and tablets this year alone. It’s great to see the thousands of amazing Flash-based apps you’ve already published across all of the major app stores — for iPhone, iPad, Android phones and tablets, the BlackBerry PlayBook, Barnes and Noble Nook tablets, and the Amazon Kindle Fire. Whether in the browser on 99% of PCs or through apps for phones and tablets, Flash bridges the gap between your incredible ideas and what over a billion people can experience.

We’re also excited about the new innovations like Stage 3D hardware acceleration. Only a month after its launch, it now enables beautiful, fluid, next-generation visuals for more people on the web than any other technology. And we’ll continue driving innovation in Flash and by contributing to web standards. Now that we are focusing on enabling Flash-based content via apps on mobile devices, this release will be the last version of the browser plug-in for mobile devices. We’ll continue to provide bug fixes and security updates for the mobile browser plug-in — and we’ll deliver new Flash innovations for smartphones and tablets via AIR, allowing you to take full advantage of Flash on iOS, Android, and BlackBerry PlayBook devices.

This minor update to Flash Player and AIR includes the following features for developers:

  • Updated iOS 5 native extensions for Adobe AIR: Flash-based apps can now take advantage of new services provided by iOS 5. Create apps that integrate the latest iOS 5 capabilities like iCloud and iMessage.
  • Updated Native text input UI for Android:  Android apps can now take advantage of the same native text input controls provided to BlackBerry Tablet OS and iOS operating systems to provide platform-specific user interaction behaviors such as magnification and text selection.

Engaging experiences. Everywhere.

Man your battle stations! Check out Age of Defenders, a new Flash-based, multiplayer tower defense game that reaches Android tablets, iPad, and desktops. Packaged with Adobe AIR and built with Adobe Flash Builder and Flash Professional, it benefits from a common Flash code base to provide real-time gameplay with your friends and immersive, optimized experiences across over a billion PCs and tablets.

To learn more about how the game was created, take a look at Adobe gaming evangelist Tom Krcha’s interview with the developer.

We’re working on an ambitious future for Flash, with a lot of great things in store for the community. But in addition to the big advances, we’re also thinking about the small game changers: Here is a sneak peak of a highly requested feature in early stage development for game developers – mouse lock, which will allow you to create immersive, panoramic games never before possible across most of the web. If you would like to provide feedback on other upcoming Flash Player and AIR features, we invite you to apply to participate in the Flash Runtimes private pre-release program.

Learn more

To learn more about developing Flash-based apps for iOS, Android, or BlackBerry PlayBook devices, check out the following resources:

And we’ll continue to provide the best tools for getting your creative, stunning ideas everywhere. We’re building foundations for your awesome experiences.

Tom Nguyen
Sr. Product Manager, Flash Runtime

Focusing

Posted on November 9, 2011 by Thibault Imbert | Comments (28)

As a long time Flash developer who loves Flash, I can tell you that what is happening right now is a good thing.

First, we are making bold moves like stopping the development of the browser plug-in on mobile browsers in favor of investing further in Flash-based apps packaged with AIR. Playing existing content sounds like a great idea on paper, but we know it doesn’t always work that way — you need to author for mobile and think for mobile, but from talking to customers and looking at content today, we realize that very few people are targeting the plug-in on mobile browsers.

Flash developers have always created some of the most stunning, immersive, emotional experiences on the web. They’ve always pushed the cutting edge, with few restrictions. But mobile is different, and developers need to adapt to different constraints and affordances. Flash lets you do that, whether you are taking advantage of efficient hardware accelerated video playback or native support for features like multitouch and accelerometers. But it’s costly to create beautiful experiences optimized for mobile browsers — a cost that doesn’t make sense if people using one of the most popular mobile platforms can’t see the content you create.

Existing content for desktops didn’t always look as magical on phones as people were used to seeing with Flash Player on their desktops. Content optimized for desktops with big screens and beefy processors can’t look as good on a phone or a tablet it was never designed for. This really had an impact on the trust that people had in Flash, and this perception made it hard to start new projects optimized for mobile browsers. There was just no appetite to even try doing this.

In contrast, you guys create super nice Flash-based apps packaged with AIR and delivering them to app stores across iOS, Android, and BlackBerry devices – by the end of this year, you will be able to reach over 350 million tablets and smartphones. Have you seen an article from a journalist saying that Machinarium, Comb over Charlie, or TweetHunt are horrible ? No, people love those games. Your work fits the trend the entire industry is seeing: even as we’re excited about improvements in mobile browsers, the most compelling, immersive experiences for mobile devices are delivered through apps, optimized from the ground up for mobile. We’re helping you guys leverage your talent – the same skills in ActionScript and tooling – to reach that huge, growing market of smartphone and tablet users with amazing apps. Flash makes it possible for developers who craft beautiful desktop experiences to deliver great mobile app experiences. We are going to really focus on that, creating the best solution to build stunning interactive content, games, and video apps across all screens.

Flash Player on the desktop continues to show a path for the consistent, super duper experiences that are impossible to deliver to over a billion people with any other technology. For example, Flash Player 11 was released only a month ago, and it now enables fluid, cinematic hardware accelerated 2D and 3D visuals for more people on the web than any other technology. Flash Player uniquely does for the desktop what apps do for phones and tablets: it helps ensure that what you imagine is exactly what your users will see. Flash Player remains the best technology for delivering premium experiences on the desktop, period. Focusing helps us make sure that we continue to drive that continued innovation.

We are not stepping out of the mobile space with Flash, we are just focusing on what makes sense and where Flash looks great.

In the long term, we’re actively working on an ambitious future for Flash. The implementation details may change, as we’ve been talking about today. We believe that the DNA of Flash doesn’t reside in those implementation details, but in our promise to make it easy to create and deliver the most amazing experiences everywhere. We’re focusing on fulfilling that promise, and we’re excited to see what the future – and our community – will bring.

Thibault Imbert
Sr. Product Manager | Flash Runtime