Adobe AIR 2.5 Released For Tablets, Phones & TVs; InMarket Eases App Distribution
Adobe's ambitions for cross-platform software are getting a boost today, with the release of Adobe AIR 2.5. Now eyeing TVs, mobile devices, desktops and tablets – including Samsung's SmartTVs, RIM's BlackBerry PlayBook and Android smartphones – AIR 2.5 includes support for a broader range of hardware, such as the accelerometer, camera, video, microphone and GPS, together with multitouch and gestures. The company is also kicking off another round of arguments with Apple, saying that "after Apple changed its App Store policies, we have revived our efforts to bring AIR onto iOS." Finally, there's a new distribution system called Adobe InMarket, for developers wanting an easier way to release apps in multiple download stores.
In return for InMarket distribution, Adobe takes 30-percent of the sales revenue. They also handle credit card processing, hosting and marketing. It's not entirely clear which stores they're working with – "Acer, Intel and others" is all the press release confirms – but we're guessing the Android Market is high on their agenda.
Meanwhile, Adobe confirmed that Flash Player 10.1 for Android has been downloaded from the Android Market over 2m times. Adobe AIR 2.5 and the Adobe AIR 2.5 SDK for Android and desktop (Windows, Macintosh and Linux) are available today. The BlackBerry Tablet OS SDK for Adobe AIR, which works with the Adobe AIR 2.5 SDK to create applications for the BlackBerry Tablet OS, is available today from RIM; the runtime should be preloaded on the BlackBerry PlayBook, when that arrives in early 2011.
[via Android Community]
Press Release:
Adobe Extends AIR Applications Across ScreensAdobe AIR 2.5 for Televisions, Mobile Devices and Desktops Unveiled; Adobe InMarket Launched
Adobe MAX 2010
LOS ANGELES–(BUSINESS WIRE)–At Adobe MAX, Adobe's worldwide developer conference, Adobe Systems Incorporated (Nasdaq:ADBE) today announced Adobe® AIR® 2.5 software for televisions, tablets, smartphones and desktop operating systems. A key element of the Adobe Flash® Platform, AIR enables developers to leverage existing code to create and deliver standalone applications across devices and platforms. Adobe AIR now supports smartphones and tablets based on BlackBerry® Tablet OS, Android™, iOS, and desktops including Windows®, Macintosh and Linux® operating systems. In addition, Samsung will be the first television manufacturer to integrate support for Adobe AIR 2.5 in Samsung SmartTVs while Acer, HTC, Motorola, RIM, Samsung and others are expected to ship the runtime pre-installed on a variety of devices including tablets and smartphones later this year and early 2011.
"The HTC Experience is centered on delighting our customers and the addition of Flash Player 10.1 to many of our phones such as the Droid Incredible by HTC, HTC Evo4G and HTC Desire demonstrates this"
With Adobe AIR, developers are able to use familiar tools including Adobe Flash® Professional CS5, Adobe Flash Builder™ and Flex to build rich standalone applications. Hundreds of them are already available on Android Market, Intel AppUp center and Apple's App Store today. In addition to AIR 2.5, Adobe also unveiled Adobe InMarket today, a new service that allows developers to easily distribute and sell their applications across different device types on app stores from Acer, Intel, and others. Adobe InMarket operates seamlessly in the background and allows end users to download applications directly from the storefront. For more information visit Adobe InMarket.
"With the release of AIR 2.5, more than 3 million Flash developers can now build a single game or application and easily deploy it across multiple application stores and devices," said David Wadhwani, senior vice president, Creative and Interactive Solutions Business, Adobe. "This is a huge step forward for developers looking to build rich, engaging applications but who have historically had to incur the cost of building them separately for each device and platform."
AIR 2.5 enables rich application experiences through a series of new features, including support for accelerometer, camera, video, microphone, multi-touch and gestures. Support for geo location allows developers to create location-based applications and services. AIR 2.5 is also able to display native-browser controls within the application allowing for the integration of HTML and .SWF content. With SQLite support, developers can easily store and cache databases inside an AIR application. In addition, hardware acceleration for Adobe AIR is enabled across all major silicon partners including Broadcom Corporation, Intel, NVIDIA, ST Microelectronics, Trident, Texas Instruments, Qualcomm and others.
Partner Feedback
"The HTC Experience is centered on delighting our customers and the addition of Flash Player 10.1 to many of our phones such as the Droid Incredible by HTC, HTC Evo4G and HTC Desire demonstrates this," said John Wang, chief marketing officer, HTC Corporation. "We are excited to be bringing a great phone experience and the collaborative results of the millions of AIR developers around the world into the hands of HTC's customers."
"As a longtime partner of Adobe, we are excited that users will have the opportunity to enjoy AIR applications and content on our devices," said Christy Wyatt, corporate vice president, software and services product management, Motorola. "Since July, we've announced seven Android-based smartphones with Flash Player 10.1 support, including the first phone with Flash out of the box. AIR 2.5 is the perfect complement to Flash Player giving customers the freedom to choose between rich-content experiences inside and outside the browser."
"The BlackBerry Tablet OS offers developers a highly optimized and flexible platform that integrates Adobe AIR with high- performance audio, video and graphics optimizations, as well as support for a WebView class and native C++ extensions," says Tyler Lessard, VP Global Alliances & Developer Relations, Research In Motion. "By building tight integration with Adobe tools into our BlackBerry Tablet OS SDK for Adobe AIR, developers are now able to optimize their applications for the tablet form-factor and deliver an enhanced end-user experience. We are excited by the breadth of content that the development community will be able to deliver for the BlackBerry PlayBook tablet using our new development tools and AIR."
Flash Player 10.1
Already one of the top free apps on Android Market, with more than 50,000 users giving it a 4.5-out-of-5 star rating, Flash Player 10.1 brings rich Flash based content to mobile devices inside the browser. The runtime is now certified on close to a dozen Android devices and will become available on dozens more over the coming weeks and months. Adobe also announced that Flash Player 10.1 was downloaded more than 2 million times from Android Market. In addition to Android Market, the runtime is distributed directly by device manufacturers and operators via pre-installs and operating system upgrades. Flash Player 10.1 is available on Android and Google TV today, with BlackBerry platform, HP webOS 2.0, future versions of Windows® Phone, LiMo, MeeGo, and Symbian OS also expected to support Flash Player 10.1. For a list of devices supported today, visit Adobe Flash Player 10.1 certified devices.
Flash Platform Tools
Adobe also announced previews of developer tools that make the process of multiscreen development more streamlined. With new releases of Flash Platform tools, including an AIR 2.5 software development kit (SDK), developers can build mobile and multiscreen applications for smartphones, tablets and televisions, while maximizing design and development productivity. An update to the open source Flex framework provides developers with a common framework for building Web, desktop and now mobile applications. Developers can build standalone mobile Flex applications with the same ease and quality as on Web and desktop platforms. For details visit http://www.adobe.com/go/flexsdk_preview/.
A preview release of Adobe Flash Builder adds capabilities for developers to build applications using familiar languages, components and tools, which help lower the cost of developing multiscreen applications. New features include creating and extending Flex applications for mobile devices, on-device debugging, coding tools to accelerate development, support for new Spark components in Flex and more.
Availability
Adobe AIR 2.5 and the Adobe AIR 2.5 SDK for Android and desktop operating systems including Windows, Macintosh and Linux are available today. The BlackBerry Tablet OS SDK for Adobe AIR, which works with the Adobe AIR 2.5 SDK to create applications for the BlackBerry Tablet OS, is available today from RIM while the runtime is expected to ship preloaded on the BlackBerry PlayBook. For more details and to download the SDK visit http://www.adobe.com/go/air_sdk. Users of Android 2.2 "Froyo" devices can download Adobe AIR directly from Android Market today. A preview release of Flash Builder is available for download at Adobe.com.