Alright folks, Adobe has made their move! After what seems like forever, Adobe has officially released their platform to their mobile partners (including Android, BlackBerry, webOS, future versions of Windows Phone, LiMo, MeeGo and Symbian OS), getting past another stopping point on their way to releasing it to the hungry public. While this release has been expected and doesn’t come as a surprise, it’s nice that it’s out in the open and out of the beta stages. Being one of the focus points of Android software 2.2, this announcement is important for Android users because it means 2.2 (or Froyo) will be out that much sooner to the general populace.

The new Flash is made viable for mobile by using new tools that can be incorporated into each Flash animation. These tools include being able to use the device’s accelerometer, and a new feature called Smart Zoom that allows the content to intelligently fill the device’s screen. Another point worth mentioning is that apparently, fears regarding battery life or performance of a Flash-using device can be put at ease. According to a Mr. Michael Gartenberg from the Altimeter Group, “Overall, my experience with Flash on Android was pretty good. Sites that did use Flash loaded relatively quickly and effortlessly. It was fun to surf to a site and not get an error message because Flash was being used. Performance worked well and sites loaded quickly and fairly complex animations and user experiences worked quickly and looked good. Adobe has done a good job making the case that Flash is viable for mobile.” According to Adobe, the new software closely monitors the device’s performance and adjusts the RAM being used based on any slowdown or memory clogging. Another feature slows down the Flash processes as soon as the device is put into sleep mode or pauses them as soon as a phone call or device function interrupts.

All in all, some pretty impressive things coming our way with the Froyo 2.2 update. Personally, I’m hoping for sooner rather than later, but this is going to be a very important release for Adobe. With things with Apple getting ugly and public, quality and being relatively bug free is going to be of the utmost importance here.

Adobe’s Full Press Release:

“HBO, Viacom, Turner, Warner Brothers, Sony Pictures, CBS Interactive, USA Network and

Others Ready Flash Content for Mobile SAN FRANCISCO, CA. — June 22, 2010 — Adobe Systems Incorporated (Nasdaq: ADBE) today announced

the release of Adobe® Flash® Player 10.1 to mobile platform partners. Redesigned from the ground up with new

performance and mobile specific features, Flash Player 10.1 is the first release that brings the full web across

desktops and devices. Mobile users will now be able to experience millions of sites with rich applications and

content inside the browser including games, animations, rich Internet applications (RIAs),data presentations and

visualizations, ecommerce, music, video, audio and more. Already the top free app on Android™ Market today, Flash Player 10.1 will be available as a final production

release for smartphones and tablets once users are able to upgrade to Android 2.2 “Froyo.” Devices supporting

“Froyo” and Flash Player 10.1 are expected to include the DROID by Motorola, Dell Streak, Google Nexus One,

Motorola MILESTONE, HTC Evo, HTC Incredible, HTC Desire, Samsung Galaxy S and others. Flash Player 10.1

was also released to mobile platform partners to be supported on devices based on Android, BlackBerry, webOS,

Windows Phone 7 Series, LiMo, MeeGo and Symbian OS, and is expected to be made available via over-the-air

downloads and to be pre-installed on smartphones, tablets and other devices in the coming months. “We are thrilled that more than three million Flash designers and developers are now able to unleash their

creativity on the world of smartphones, tablets, netbooks, televisions and other consumer electronics,” said David Wadhwani, general manager and vice president, Platform Business at Adobe. “The combined power of the

leading rich media technology platform with millions of passionate creatives is sure to impact the world in ways we haven’t even imagined yet.” Broad Partner Support

Device and technology partners including ARM, Motorola, Dell, RIM, Samsung, Google, HTC, NVIDIA,

Qualcomm, Intel, Microsoft, Texas Instruments, Brightcove and others announced more specifics around their

support for Flash Player 10.1 today. Major content publishers including Viacom, HBO, Msnbc Digital Network,

Turner, USA Network, Photobucket, Kongregate, Nickelodeon, Sony Pictures, Warner Brothers, CBS Interactive,

South Park Studios, Armor Games, cnet.com, Mochi Media, Blitz, Odopod, JustinTV, AgencyNet, Roundarch,

RAIN and many others have also started to optimize Flash content to deliver the best possible experience within the context of smaller screens, which includes larger buttons for interactions, layout adjustments for mobile

screens and more. For details visit [insert Quote Page URL] or m.flash.com, Adobe’s showcase site for optimized Flash content. For

more information on how to optimize Flash content for mobile, visit www.adobe.com/go/fmobile. New High Performance Features

Completely redesigned and optimized for mobile, Flash Player 10.1 delivers new interaction methods with support

for mobile-specific input models. Support for accelerometer allows users to view Flash content in landscape and

portrait mode. With Smart Zooming, users can scale content to full screen mode delivering immersive application like experiences from a web page. Performance optimization work with virtually all major mobile silicon and

platform vendors makes efficient use of CPU and battery performance. The new Smart Rendering feature ensures that Flash content is running only when it becomes visible on the

screen further reducing CPU and battery consumption. With Sleep Mode, Flash Player automatically slows down

when the device transitions into screen saver mode. Advanced Out-of-Memory Management allows the player to

effectively handle non-optimized content that consumes excessive resources, while automatic memory reduction

decreases content usage of RAM by up to 50 percent. Flash Player pauses automatically when events occur such as incoming phone calls or switching from the browser to other device functions. Once users switch back to the browser, Flash Player resumes where it paused. Industry Analyst Feedback

“Although it is labeled a dot release, Flash Player 10.1 is a significant update that includes a number of new

performance and mobile specific features,” said Al Hilwa, program director of the Application Development

Program at IDC. “This allows consumers to see a much bigger part of the web and allows developers to bring

their Flash platform skills to a much bigger swath of devices.” “For the past few weeks I have had the opportunity to test an Android Froyo device loaded with a beta of Flash

Player 10.1,” said Ben Bajarin, principal analyst at Creative Strategies. “The overall experience and performance

of Flash has been impressive. Mobile users now have access to full web pages with rich Flash content on millions

of sites. With the new mobile specific features, developers also have an important opportunity to help shape the

way Web content, games, touch capabilities and more are presented across platforms and devices as Froyo and

other platforms deliver full Flash support.” Additional Resources

To watch demo videos of Flash Player 10.1 running across devices, including smartphones and tablets, visit

www.adobe.com/devnet/devices/demos (insert hyperlink) Availability

Flash Player 10.1 is expected to be available as a final production release for devices once users are able to

upgrade to Android 2.2 “Froyo.” Once upgraded, smartphones, tablets and other devices can be updated with

Flash Player 10.1 over-the-air via numerous ways including content triggered downloads, system software

updates and on-device app catalogs such as Android Market, Adobe Labs and other venues. The upgrade

mechanism will vary by device and device manufacturer. The desktop version of Flash Player 10.1 for Windows,

Mac OS and Linux is available on http://get.adobe.com/flashplayer/ today.”

[via slashgear]