18 November 2008

Flash Player 10 & Adobe AIR Bring Rich Net Apps To ARM

ARM and Adobe Systems Incorporated have confirmed a technology collaboration to optimize and enable Adobe Flash Player 10 and Adobe AIR for ARM Powered devices.

The collaboration is expected to accelerate mobile graphics and video capabilities on ARM platforms to bring rich Internet applications and Web services to mobile devices and consumer electronics worldwide.

The joint technology optimization is targeted for the ARMv6 and ARMv7architectures used in the ARM11 family and the Cortex-A series of processors and is expected to be available in the second half of 2009.

ARM technology powers billions of electronic devices today, including the vast majority of smartphones, mobile Internet devices, set-top boxes, digital TVs, portable navigation and personal media devices. The agreement will enable ARM and Adobe to deliver an optimized Adobe Flash Player 10 for the ARM architecture as well as industry-standard API support for GPUs and hardware accelerators. The collaboration is also expected to lower power consumption for mobile devices running Flash Player 10 and AIR content.

“Adobe Flash is the leading video format on the Web today, and this collaboration with ARM is another important step towards bringing the complete Web experience to mobile devices worldwide,” said Gary Kovacs, general manager and vice president, Mobile and Devices at Adobe. “We are pleased to work with ARM and the other industry leaders in the Open Screen Project, to make browsing and applications as rich and powerful in mobile as they are on the desktop.”

“ARM believes this partnership will develop optimized Adobe Flash and AIR implementations that will run on billions of devices from our Partners such as pocket-sized mobile devices, mobile computing platforms, set-top boxes, digital TVs and automotive infotainment,” added Ian Drew, vice president, Marketing at ARM. “The Adobe Flash Player enables consumers to enjoy games, movies, animation and interactivity on the Web. The combination of Adobe Flash and ARM’s low-power processor IP and Mali GPUs will ensure a fantastic Internet experience for consumers on the world’s leading 32-bit architecture.”

The partnership stems from the Open Screen Project, a broad Adobe sponsored initiative of industry leaders – including ARM – to deliver a consistent runtime environment across multiple devices by taking advantage of Adobe Flash Player and, in the future, Adobe AIR. The initiative is set to address the challenges of Web browsing on a broad range of screens, and remove the barriers to publish content and applications seamlessly across screens.

Adobe Flash Player 10 for ARMv6 and ARMv7 architecture-based hardware is expected to be available royalty-free to Partners in the Open Screen Project. Flash Player 10 for ARM processor-based devices will be made available to OEMs by Adobe.