In news that has taken the computer and technology world by storm, Adobe, Inc. recently announced that it will shortly be abandoning the development of its Flash plug-in for mobile devices. While the news didn’t necessarily come as a major surprise, it represents a decisive victory for the significant number of developers and other industry professionals who have long bemoaned the inefficiency of the Flash for mobile plug-in. That the news comes about a month after the death of former Apple CEO Steve Jobs is quite telling, as Jobs was one of the most vocal opponents of the technology.

The official announcement was made in a statement on Adobe’s official blog on November 9. In the statement, Adobe points to the fact that HTML5 is more widely supported as the primary reason for backing away from Flash for mobile. However, the company isn’t completely turning its back on Flash for mobile. As noted in the statement, Adobe will continue to provide support to developers who rely on Adobe AIR. This is an important point because Abode AIR continues to be widely used. Adobe will no longer develop Flash for mobile browsers and will instead switch its focus over to the increasingly popular HTML5 platform.

What is Flash for Mobile?

Flash for mobile browsers works similarly to Flash plugging that are used on regular Internet browsers. It enables users to watch videos and other graphics-intensive media. Flash has been a mainstay on the Internet for a considerable amount of time. When mobile devices first appeared, it seemed only natural that Flash would be used to enable support for videos and other forms of media. As more developers got in on the mobile game, though, dissatisfaction with the Flash plug-in for mobile browsers started to escalate.

While Flash performs well enough on regular computers, which tend to have fast processors and plenty of memory, it struggles to work properly on mobile devices. Mobile devices have much smaller resources at their disposal. As a result, videos that are rendered via Flash are often laggy and nearly unwatchable. What’s worse is that Flash tends to significantly drain the battery life of mobile devices. Users have to charge up their devices much more frequently. In turn, they often try to avoid Flash-enabled media whenever possible. In addition to that, Flash is renowned for falling short when it comes to security.

What is HTML5?

HTML5 is the latest version of the HTML language. This version enables the support of videos and other forms of media, which has made HTML5 a natural alternative to Flash since its inception. Not surprisingly, it was cited by Steve Jobs on numerous occasions as a viable alternative to Flash. One of the main drawbacks to using HTML5 for animations and videos is that it doesn’t have the streamlined, easy-to-use tools that go along with developing Flash media. However, Adobe noted in its statement that increased support for HTML5 is now in the pipeline, which means that new ways of using it are on the horizon.

Technically, HTML5 is still being developed. The last complete, official version of HTML, HTML4, was completed in 1997. HTML was originally created in 1990. The long history of HTML gives HTML5 a strong background. Developers have been well aware of HTML5 for years now. The ongoing feud concerning Flash, however, cast a bright spotlight on it in the last year or so. While Flash’s fortunes seem to be on the decline, it is safe to say that HTML5 is only going to grow in popularity. This development should make developers’ lives much easier too because they won’t have to choose between two platforms or attempt to manage them both.

Why Adobe Nixed Flash for Mobile

Adobe does not make huge amounts of money through its Flash plug-in for mobile devices and mobile browsers. Like other versions of Flash, it is typically offered for free. Updates are also offered for free, so there are no real ongoing revenues to speak of. Adobe continued to develop Flash for mobile mostly out of habit. The wishes of certain developers may have played a role in the situation as well. However, the company has apparently seen the writing on the wall.

From a business standpoint, it does not make sense for Adobe to continue investing time, money and resources into the development of Flash for mobile. It is not supported by any of Apple’s mobile devices, which cuts it out of a huge part of the market. More and more companies are abandoning Flash for mobile as well, which makes it less and less of a viable option. What’s clear is that one of the two had to go: HTML5 or Flash for mobile. Because HTML5 tends to excel in places where Flash falls short, it seems only fitting that Adobe has made this particular move.

Criticism about Flash

Flash has been heavily criticized in many places for a long time. Even before the development of Flash for mobile, Flash itself has been the target of a great deal of scorn. When it comes to its performance on mobile browsers, however, Flash falls extremely short. As mentioned before, it is a notorious drain on the battery life of most mobile devices. If accidentally left running in the background, Flash will cause a phone’s battery to diminish rapidly. As a result, the user is left without a working phone.

Another major criticism about Flash is that it is unreliable. Complains abound about Flash’s propensity to crash at random times. In some cases, Flash will cause a mobile device to become totally locked up, which forces the user to restart it entirely. This isn’t just bad from a user standpoint; it is bad from the developer’s standpoint too. If Flash is used and fails repeatedly, a developer’s reputation could be on the line. Flash developed a reputation for unreliability on regular Internet browsers, but that criticism has escalated since it made its appearance on mobile browsers in recent years.

Security is another common issue with Flash. While updates and improvements have been made, it is notoriously easy for hackers to use Flash objects to conduct malicious attacks on unsuspecting users. By embedding a Flash object on a site, a hacker could strike out at many unwitting victims with ease. That was bad enough on regular computers, but it’s even more problematic on mobile devices. People often store significant amounts of personal data on their mobile devices. In theory, Flash could open the floodgates and allow unscrupulous people to gain access to highly sensitive information. If nothing else, it could compromise a mobile device’s browser and render it unusable.

Steve Jobs Strikes Out at Flash

One of the main turning points in the whole Flash-versus-HTML5 saga occurred in April 2010, when Steve Jobs, who was then the CEO of Apple, released a public letter entitled “Thoughts on Flash.” In the letter, Jobs clearly and succinctly outlined his reasons for opposing Flash and explained why it would never be supported on iPhone or iPad. In effect, Jobs drove the nail in the Flash’s coffin; it just took another year and half to put a somewhat official end to Flash for mobile.

After Jobs’ letter was made public, many people suggested that Apple’s refusal to support Flash would doom its iPhone and iPad devices. After all, anyone who used those devices would be unable to view Flash-enabled content. By then, however, Apple’s following was so huge that the move actually caused the opposite reaction. Instead of dropping their Apple devices in favor of Android devices, which do support Flash, enough people purchased Apple products to make it the most successful company in the world. That vote of confidence made it crystal clear that Flash didn’t have a leg to stand on, and HTML5 started to be phased in on many different mobile sites.

Microsoft Drops Flash

Interestingly enough, Microsoft – which is a notorious rival of Apple – officially dropped Flash for mobile in September of this year. While the company would continue to support it for earlier versions of its mobile browser, the latest version – Windows 8, which would be used on tablets – would not support Flash. While this move didn’t make the kind of splash that Jobs’ comments did, it highlighted the fact that the Flash mobile plug-in was heading towards a complete and total demise.

With Microsoft no longer supporting or developing with Flash, the last major player in the game was Android. The Android platform, which is the most popular mobile platform, has supported and relied on Flash from the beginning. In fact, many people split mobile devices into two main categories: Android devices and Apple devices. Those with Android-based devices could view Flash-enabled content, while those with Apple devices could not. Android is such a ubiquitous platform, however, that it comes as no surprise that it held onto Flash until the very end. Now that Adobe is no longer going to develop Flash for mobile, Android will lose the distinction of being able to support Flash.

Flash-to-HTML5 Conversion

Although Adobe’s announcement is important, it doesn’t mean that Flash is going to disappear from mobile devices immediately. Much of the groundwork for a smooth transition from Flash to HTML5 has already been laid. In fact, Adobe itself has created tools that make it easy to convert Flash to HTML5. YouTube, which has relied heavily on Flash through the years, began switching over to HTML5 a long time ago. Clearly, YouTube saw the writing on the wall. Furthermore, Apple customers have a lot of sway and needed to be able to watch videos on YouTube as well.

From here on out, mobile sites and apps will surely be designed to support HTML5 instead of Flash. Those who already own Apple devices will see the biggest changes because they will slowly stop encountering content that is only viewable with Flash. The frustration of being unable to use Flash-based mobile websites will slowly become a thing of the past. Adobe’s move forces companies to create sites that are not dependent on Flash, and HTML5 is the natural alternative. Those who use Android-based devices will probably be mostly unaware of the switch.

The Future of Adobe

Adobe’s announcement of its plans to stop developing Flash for mobile came right on the heels of its announcement of slashing 750 jobs worldwide. That reduction equals approximately seven percent of the company’s workforce, so it is quite significant. One thing has little to do with the other, however, and the company’s discontinued support of Flash for mobile does not mean that it is in any serious trouble. The two stories just happened to come about at about the same time, and the company is clearly looking to make adjustments to ensure its future success.

The fact of the matter is that Flash has never been a moneymaker for Adobe. As noted previously, people can download and install Flash for free. Mobile users can install Flash updates without spending a dime. Adobe doesn’t generate a significant amount of income from Flash or Flash for mobile. If anything, moving its focus away from the Flash plug-in for mobile browsers will allow the company to move forward in some important ways. While it will continue to provide support for Adobe AIR, it will work to make the transition from Flash to HTML5 as seamless as possible.

In a way, it is unfortunate that Steve Jobs didn’t stick around to see Adobe’s recent announcement. It surely would have satisfied him immensely. However, for most people, the news isn’t going to make a major difference. Developers, on the other hand, are surely scrambling to take the changes into account. For some developers, this is good news; for others, it may present complications. Either way, there will be no going back. As the transition takes place, Flash will slowly disappear from mobile sites. Sites that fail to update to HTML5 will face problems, so making these changes early is going to be very important.