Adobe encouraged by Apple u-turn

Flash vendor Adobe’s famously frosty relationship with Apple thawed a little last night when the iPhone owner removed some third-party tool restrictions for App Store game development.

“We are encouraged to see Apple lifting its restrictions on its licensing terms, giving developers the freedom to choose what tools they use to develop applications for Apple devices,” Adobe said in a statement released to Develop.

Apple’s relaxed rules on third-party tool development has “direct implications for Adobe’s Packager for iPhone, a feature in the Flash Professional CS5 authoring tool,” Adobe said.

“This feature was created to enable Flash developers to quickly and easily deliver applications for iOS devices. The feature is available for developers to use today in Flash Professional CS5, and we will now resume development work on this feature for future releases.”

Yesterday Adobe shares rocketed following Apple’s announcement.