Adobe ‘abandons Flash’ for mobile browsers

Adobe will cease supporting Flash for mobile devices, according to an alleged leaked internal email.

The notice, sent to Adobe’s partners and then onto tech publication ZDNet, states that the company will turn its attention to native smartphone applications.

For browsers, the company will focus further on the HTML5 development framework, the message added.

“Our future work with Flash on mobile devices will be focused on enabling Flash developers to package native apps with Adobe AIR for all the major app stores,” the email read.

“We will no longer adapt Flash Player for mobile devices to new browser, OS version or device configurations. Some of our source code licensees may opt to continue working on and releasing their own implementations. We will continue to support the current Android and PlayBook configurations with critical bug fixes and security updates.”

Today Adobe announced it is to cut as many as 750 workers across Europe and the US.

Flash had faced a challenging future with Apple outright blocking the popular format across its entire line of mobile devices.

A rapid shift in business strategy resulted in Adobe moving fast to launch its new HTML5 design tool.

That editor, called Adobe Edge, is free for developers to preview and allows customers to animate interactive HTML5 web pages.

Edge proved an instant hit, soaring past 50,000 downloads in its first 24 hours since launch.

Adobe has never suggested it would abandon Flash on desktop browsers. The ubiquitous playerhas become central to rich media on the open web, while the eleventh edition of the tech alows hardware-accelerated 3D graphics.