Brightcove converts Time, NYT Flash video to HTML5 for iPad

Brightcove's partnerships with The New York Times and Time magazine will allow HTML5 to seamlessly replace Adobe Flash video content on the publications' Web sites for compatibility with Apple's iPad.

The Cambridge, Mass.-based online video platform announced Monday its new Brightcove Experience for HTML5, a framework for publishing and delivering interactive and advertising-supported Web video. The platform is available free to the more than 1,000 Brightcove customers in 42 countries.

Two major clients of Brightcove are The New York Times and Time magazine, both of which are reportedly already using the product. The platform provides support for intelligent device detection, playlist rendering, and playback of H.264 encoded video content.

Monday's announcement means it's possible that video in the Adobe Flash format could be converted to HTML5 automatically for high-profile Web sites, perhaps as soon as the device's April 3 U.S. launch. The company said its clients can now use the tool to build iPad-ready Web sites, and in the next year the platform will be expanded to support customization and branding of the player environment, advertising, analytics, social sharing and other capabilities.

"Our customers want to be able to deliver their video content to every screen without sacrificing the quality, interactivity and monetization capabilities they have come to expect from the Brightcove platform," Jeremy Allaire, Brightcove chairman and chief executive officer, said in a press release. "The Brightcove Experience for HTML5 fills the gap between the current playback capabilities of the emerging standard and what our customers need to operate successful online video businesses."

Last week it was revealed that U.S. TV network CBS is testing HTML5 for video playback on the iPad. The network is just the latest in a number of Web sites looking for an alternative to the Adobe format, which has come under increased scrutiny since it was revealed the iPad, like the iPhone and iPod touch, would not support Flash.

In January, Google added HTML5 support for YouTube, the Internet's most popular streaming video destination. Virgin America also abandoned Flash for its new mobile Web site, in order to allow iPhone users to check in for flights.

Allegedly labeled a "CPU hog" by Apple co-founder Steve Jobs, Flash has been a target of the iPad maker, which has not allowed the Web format on its iPhone OS powering the iPad, iPhone and iPod touch. Though Jobs reportedly said it would be "trivial" for Web developers to switch from Flash, some employees of leading publishers recently said they believe such a move wouldn't be so simple.

For more on Apple and Flash, and why the Web format will likely never be available on the iPhone OS, read AppleInsider's three-part Flash Wars series.