Adobe Systems, maker of the popular Flash software that plays Internet videos, has turned its attention to the smartphone market,
The Wall Street Journal reports. The software giant is
reengineering Flash so that Flash-powered games and videos can run on handsets and PCs without being modified. As part of the push, Adobe has struck alliances with chip designers and phone makers and
is also offering millions to developers to write Flash-based programs for mobile devices.
"Smart phones are where the game is now," says Kevin Lynch, Adobe's chief technology officer.
"Our chips are on the table. We've made our bets." Later this year, Adobe will release a trial version of Flash to run on operating systems made by Palm, Google, and Nokia Corp., but the Journal
report says there's no timetable for a version that will run on Apple's iPhone or Research in Motion's BlackBerry. Lynch notes the holdup isn't entirely technical: "We need to have Apple's agreement
before we can do it," he says. Neither Apple nor RIM would comment.
Adobe's shift in focus comes as the smartphone market is growing rapidly. According to research firm Gartner,
smartphone sales jumped 13% to 36 million units in the first quarter, while PC shipments fell 6.5% to 67 million. Adobe, meanwhile, has a lot riding on its mobile effort, the Journal says, as sales
dropped 12% in the first quarter. Flash is a key revenue generator for the company.
Read the whole story at The Wall Street Journal »