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Adobe AIR to be launched on Mobile Devices

As a part of the Open Screen Project drive, Adobe AIR is set to be launched on all popular mobile devices (except for the iPhone) in the coming days. The runtime is expected to be ready for public release on the Android OS by 2010; BlackBerry, Symbian OS, Palm webOS and Windows Mobile are expected to follow soon.

The official Adobe press release states:

With support for the Android™ platform expected in 2010, AIR provides developers with a feature-rich environment for delivering rich applications outside the mobile browser and across multiple operating systems via mobile marketplaces and app stores.

What does the release mean to mobile developers? With the introduction of AIR on popular mobile devices, you have a killer development platform. Here are three of the reasons:

i. Write once, deploy anywhere
Developers would not have to worry about porting their apps for different devices.

ii. Reduced development time
Adobe Flash provides an IDE that enables the development of very rich UI and interactive apps in a short period of time.

iii. Better than Java for application development (on mobile devices)
Considering the resource usage and GUI library, Adobe AIR comes out as a better choice for app development on mobile devices.

Kevin Hoyt of Adobe demonstrates the Tweet Card app on Motorola Droid.

Though the iPhone OS may not officially support AIR, there’s a workaround to the issue – Packager for iPhone in the Adobe Flash CS5. The Packager for iPhone makes it possible to create native applications for the iPhone OS from Adobe Flash.

With the iPhone issue handled, and the AIR platform on all other mobile devices, Adobe Flash stands as a very strong candidate for commercial mobile development platform in the coming future. The new development will bring in a lot of talented artists and developers from the Flash side of the fence, and we should see a lot of exciting development on the mobile platform – starting with Android.