When the Chrome for Android beta dropped this morning for Ice Cream Sandwich, we heard a few complaints on Twitter that the browser doesn’t support Adobe’s Flash. Well, Adobe has already confirmed that it’s done with Flash on mobile, so it shouldn’t be much of a surprise that Chrome doesn’t get it.
In a blog post, Adobe wrote, “As we announced last November, Adobe is no longer developing Flash Player for mobile browsers, and thus Chrome for Android Beta does not support Flash content. Flash Player continues to be supported within the current Android browser.” This doesn’t mean the company is going to abandon Flash, as the desktop versions will still be upgraded and it’s rapidly working on tools to bring Flash content to mobile devices – this could be through app stores or through Flash-to-HTML5 tools.
This really clarifies how Internet content will be consumed on mobile devices, as it appears like HTML5 and native applications have won. Mobile Flash is essentially dead and even Microsoft has stripped out the capability for Silverlight in its Internet Explorer 9 for Windows Phone Mango.
Do any of you miss Flash in the latest Chrome browser?
[Via Adobe]