Adobe has announced that its latest update to the Flash runtime in 10.2 will be included with the RIM PlayBook tablet as well as Android 3.0, with the bulk of the changes centering around its new Stage Video hardware acceleration for Flash video in order to reduce processor and memory demands. The rest of the changes are centered on desktop performance improvements and changes to enable Stage Video support and integration with Adobe CS5 for production and development.
The announcement of Flash 10.2 for both platforms presents a unified front against Apple’s iOS. Apple has prohibited the Flash plug-in from being offered for iOS, instead ultimately directing developers to use Adobe AIR to compile flash software as independent applications.
Adobe is hoping that the offering of full, Flash-enabled web sites on both platforms will add pressure on Apple. Adobe claims they can easily add Flash to the Safari browser in iOS. Apple has prohibited Flash on the platform by not enabling third-party plugins, a feature supported on all other common implementation of the underlying WebKit web browser. WebKit also powers the web browsers in Google Android, and BlackBerry PlayBook.
