Victory for Apple as Adobe halts Flash for mobiles

NEW YORK, USA: Adobe Systems Inc halted development of its Flash Player for mobile browsers, surrendering to Apple Inc in a war over Web standards as the company surprised investors with a restructuring plan.

Adobe's surrender signals the end of a long-running war with Apple that has overshadowed the software maker's other activities.

At one point in the battle, Steve Jobs wrote a nearly 1,700-word "manifesto," calling Flash unreliable and ill-suited for mobile devices. Adobe retaliated by taking out newspaper ads saying Jobs was just plain wrong.

Analysts say the cessation on Flash development might be a setback to rivals of Apple who tout the ability to support Flash as a reason to buy their equipment. They include Asustek Computer Inc, Google Inc, HTC Corp, Motorola Mobility Holdings Inc, Research in Motion Ltd and Samsung Electronics Co Ltd.

"It certainly changes the position a little bit for those who said that iOS products such as iPhone and iPad were disadvantaged for not supporting flash," said Michael Gartenberg, an analyst with Gartner.

While Adobe only publicly conceded on Wednesday that HTML5 has become the preferred standard for creating mobile browser content, it has long been investing in the technology.

For example, it worked with magazine publisher Conde Nast for about year developing software that allows for the use of HTML5 technology to publish digital editions of magazines, including the New Yorker and Wired.

This means any content producer can use Adobe's publishing software to build video and motion graphics suitable for the iPad, as well as most other mobile devices.

Plus, Adobe incorporated HTML5 into its popular Illustrator and Dreamweaver software programs and highlighted an HTML5 program dubbed Edge for creating animated Web content it highlighted at its analyst meeting.

The company said it plans to infuse HTML5 technology across its entire product line over the coming years, offering increasingly sophisticated tools and services to design professionals, publishers, retailers and other businesses.

David Wadhwani, head of Adobe's digital media business unit, said the company was in "close collaboration" with Apple as well as Google, Microsoft Corp and others as it developed these new products.

"There is rocket science in this," he said. "There is enough innovation here to last a decade."

He said the company would continue to invest in Flash technology for use in mobile applications that would run on devices through its Adobe AIR platform. To access those applications, a user must first install Adobe's AIR software.

It will also invest in technology to produce Flash applications for desktop computers, including ones that render 3D graphics.

Adobe shares closed down 7.7 percent at $28.08 on Nasdaq, while Apple shares were down 2.7 percent at $395.28.