Josh Ong
Following up on the announcement last November that it was discontinuing development of Flash for mobile browsers, Adobe published (via The Verge) a blog post on Thursday detailing deprecated support for the player on Android.
"Beginning August 15th we will use the configuration settings in the Google Play Store to limit continued access to Flash Player updates to only those devices that have Flash Player already installed," the post read.
Adobe also said that there will not be any Flash-certified Android 4.1 devices. Though in the past unsupported devices were sometimes able to get Flash Player working, the company said that this is "no longer going to be the case" because it has not developed or tested the player for the upcoming version of Android and its browsers.
Adobe Flash Android screenshot. Source: Google Play
Android users who want to keep running Flash as legacy software will need to download and install Flash before the August 15th deadline. Adobe also recommends that they stay on Android 4.0, as Flash Player on 4.1 Jelly Bean could exhibit "unpredictable behavior."
"We recommend uninstalling Flash Player on devices which have been upgraded to Android 4.1," the company wrote.
Last year, an Adobe manager put part of the blame on Apple for the demise of mobile Flash. Mike Chambers acknowledged that the software would never reach "anywhere near the ubiquity" of its install base on desktops because Apple would not allow Flash Player in the iOS browser.
"No matter what we did, the Flash Player was not going to be available on Apple’s iOS anytime in the foreseeable future," he said.
Late Apple co-founder Steve Jobs set off an intense debate about the merits of Flash in 2010 with his open letter criticizing the format as outdated and needlessly proprietary.
Android makers decided early on to advertise Flash as a differentiating feature of their devices as compared to Apple's own. The move ultimately backfired on companies like Motorola, as Flash support ended up being postponed due to technical issues.
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78 Comments
"But… But how will we have the REAL web without Flash?! How… how will we feel superior to everyone else?!" And on another note, how much longer does everyone think we'll even have Flash for desktops? 2015?
So Adobe is blaming Apple for removing Flash from Android devices? Didn't Google just get through telling us there's 1 million daily activations? Now Adobe, even if Apple doesn't want your flash mess, why would you decline the opportunity to include Flash on hundreds of millions of Android devices? I'll tell you why - it performs like crap regardless of the mobile platform, and you finally raised the white flag of surrender.
"But… But how will we have the REAL web without Flash?!
How… how will we feel superior to everyone else?!"
And on another note, how much longer does everyone think we'll even have Flash for desktops? 2015?
Bloody amazing. Just watching the recently released All Things D full Steve Jobs interviews. 110% Vindication for Steve.
So sad he wasn't around to see it. Ah well, I guess Buddha and Moses are enjoying their iPads.
Steve:
"The problem with humans was that you didn't make them user-friendly enough"
So Adobe is blaming Apple for removing Flash from Android devices? Didn't Google just get through telling us there's 1 million daily activations? Now Adobe, even if Apple doesn't want your flash mess, why would you decline the opportunity to include Flash on hundreds of millions of Android devices? I'll tell you why - it performs like crap regardless of the mobile platform, and you finally raised the white flag of surrender.
It's hilarious isn't it. Android is arguably the most popular mobile platform ~of all time~ and Flash on Android had, oh, I don't know, about five years? (Not including Apple asking them to come back with something decent for iOS).
And Flash on Android... Why doesn't it work? Or does it? Or does anyone care? Why are most people still on Android 2 and not ICS? Why is this such a cluster****?
And so it comes to pass.