Adobe to stop actively developing Flash mobile platform

Over the past two years, we’ve delivered Flash Player for mobile browsers and brought the full expressiveness of the web to many mobile devices. However, HTML5 is now universally supported on major mobile devices, in some cases exclusively. This makes HTML5 the best solution for creating and deploying content in the browser across mobile platforms.
Adobe Vice President and General Manager of Interactive Development Danny Winokur • Offering up an explanation for why the company has decided to stop actively developing their Flash mobile products — which Steve Jobs famously ripped apart in an open letter last year. With the iPhone no longer a viable platform for Flash development and the problems developing Flash on mobile devices becoming increasingly obvious, Adobe has decided to change its course entirely. More emphasis on tools (of which Flash is one); less emphasis on across-the-board development platforms. Adobe’s been moving in this direction for a little while; back in August, they released a tool called Edge, which is like Flash for HTML5. Think it’s the right move for them? source

Posted by Ernie Smith • 0 Comments • Permalink

The fine print in the NYT’s paywall: Have you been wondering to yourself, “Who the heck would pay $260 extra to subscribe to the iPad version of the New York Times?” So have a lot of people. From a distance, the price plan makes little sense and makes the paper nearly as expensive as the dead-tree version (which costs $770 a year for the seven-days-a-week edition outside of NYC). But Poynter’s Damon Kiesow has a really interesting take on the matter which a lot of people haven’t considered: What if the Times wants to discourage mobile app use by pricing them at a premium, specifically with the iPad version? (above pic taken by Robert Scoble — yes, that’s the man’s hand)

» What this all means to you: Now, if you’ve ever used an iPad, it’s pretty clear that the New York Times Web site is as good, if not better than, the NYT iPad app, at least for now. And if they want to further emphasize the tablet-y nature of the iPad, they already have that in the form of Times Skimmer. Furthermore, Apple doesn’t take a 30 percent cut out of Web-based subscriptions. Damon Kiesow’s perfectly apt reasoning, then, is that the NYT is trying to de-emphasize the App Store by pricing people out of that direction. And you know what? He’s right. The NYT Web site will work fine on the iPad. There is an advantage to using NYT’s app on your cell phone, so that’s kept at a more reasonable cost, but the NYT’s plan to focus on the Web over the app? Sneaky.

Posted by Ernie Smith • 0 Comments • Permalink

The problem with the apps is that they are much more directly cannibalistic of the print products than the website. People interact with it much more like they do with the traditional product.
News Corp. Europe and Asia head (and Rupert’s kid) James Murdoch • Explaining why mobile apps are a danger to his company’s business model. Sorry James, but if you don’t like it, deal with it. The two papers that you’ve put behind paywalls so far have lost most of their readership, so clearly you understand your market. Oh, who are we kidding? You have no clue about the online or mobile spaces. source

Posted by Ernie Smith • 0 Comments • Permalink

09 Nov 2011 10:14