As of today Adobe will be stopping all new installations of its Flash Player app for Android devices, putting the final nail in the coffin of the dying format.
Adobe announced in November of last year that it would be stopping the development of Flash for Android, but we’re sure it will still come as a surprise to many. Today, on August 15th, new installations of the app are to be disabled.
This is in addition to the distinct lack of Flash in Google’s latest version of Android, Jelly Bean. The new OS, currently running on the Nexus 7 and some Galaxy Nexus devices, does not support Flash Player.
It was always claimed by Adobe that Flash would be the future of the web, but the company hit a rather large blockade when Apple refused to support it in iOS for its iPhone, iPod Touch and iPad products. Despite offering the app for those who want it, Adobe pretty much gave up on the Android platform too, and now Microsoft has said there will be very limited use of Flash in the forthcoming Windows 8.
Flash will of course remain important for the PC format, but in the mobile world it has been beaten by HTML5 – a new way of creating and viewing interactive content on mobile devices. It’s faster and it’s more secure, so it’s hardly surprising that Adobe have bowed out of Flash for Android and pledged allegiance to the new standard. Adobe Air is still available to provide streaming content via a device’s browser, and those who already have Flash Player installed won’t encounter any problems.
There are several big name apps that rely on Flash Player to work, and BBC iPlayer is probably the biggest example. So what can users do if they get a device that doesn’t come with Flash preloaded? Well, Adobe hosts versions of the app on its site, and there’s always the option of searching for ‘Flash Player 11 APK’ online to find the app to download. You’ll then be able to ‘sideload’ it by pasting the apk file onto your device and installing it manually from its file location.
At the time of writing, Flash Player 11 by Adobe can still be downloaded from the Play Store, so get it while you can.
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