Bsquare bringing Flash to Android phones

This story has been corrected. See below for details.

Adobe is working on a version of Flash for Google's Android mobile phone operating system, but it turns out it's not the only one.

On Wednesday, embedded software specialist Bsquare plans to detail its work in the area. "Bsquare has been tapped by a global tier 1 carrier to port the Adobe Flash technology to the Android platform," according to a message sent to reporters about the news. The company already has ported Flash to more than 100 embedded devices.

Flash is a software foundation that's popular for games, video streaming, and other more sophisticated Web site features, but it's mostly a fixture on PCs rather than mobile devices. Apple's iPhone, the technological leader among smartphones by many accounts, doesn't support Flash.

Google Android leader Andy Rubin demonstrated Flash on the T-Mobile G1 Android phone at an Adobe conference in November.

(Via Peter Rojas)

Corrected 8:06 a.m. PDT to reflect updated information from Bsquare that says it's porting Flash technology, not Adobe's player itself, to Android, and that it's ported Flash to 100 embedded devices in general, not 100 Android devices.

[make_or_break]

It's about bloody time.

Between the weak battery, the constant low memory nags, no native vid app, and the inability to view Flash content, my G1 is really getting on my nerves.

[BogusBasin]

If you are frustrated now, wait until you see what a horrible experience Flash will be on your phone. The resource requirements of Flash are just too great for today's phones. That is why Apple hasn't allowed it on the iPhone yet. Someday, but not yet.

[mucatron]

@BogusBasin - Flash Lite works fantastically well on over 1 Billion devices, the requirements are very low for the player. Of course as a rich platform it's possible to create "killer" content that could never run on a device, but that's rare right now.

Check out my post on LGs incredible work with Flash:
http://flashmobileblog.com/2009/03/15/lg-kp500-cooky-adobe-mobile-client-flash-technology/

Look to the future with Flash 10 on Android:
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=UMB8vGcrjNk

Mark Doherty
Adobe - Platform Evangelism (Mobile and Devices)