Recently Adobe came out saying that Flash mobile is no longer viable. People have been all over Twitter talking about it, needless to say anger has ensued. This frustrates me because so many great things can come from Flash, and also I have spent countless hours trying to wrap my mind around a program that seems to be going by the wayside (at least for mobile devices).

Mobile devices are now being limited for the duration, at least until a suitable Flash replacement comes out that will run on mobile devices. I have been waiting for Flash to be available on my iPhone for so long (I know it was always a pipe dream). I am frustrated because limiting the availability of Flash is going to force users to spend more money, which is good for iTunes and other app companies, but bad for the user.

Not to mention the fact that the number of Flash websites that will continue to be unavailable to mobile devices. It seems as if the move to keep flash out of mobile devices will be the beginning of the end. Especially with the advent of the iPad and other tablets that do not support Flash. It will begin to be pushed into a purely animation role, and web browsing on devices other than computers will be null and void.

Flash being pushed out of the mobile realm is going to force designers and web developers to use it less and begin to use HTML5. This change has been driven by Apple’s refusal to support Flash on its mobile devices. As we all know whatever Apple is doing will be copied by other companies, so the death of mobile Flash was inevitable.

As disappointing as this may be we can now look to HTML5 to fill the void on mobile devices. Even though Flash will not be available for mobile devices it still has a use for desktop and laptop computers, as well as for other types of animation. So the moral of the story is embrace HTML5 and learn to use Flash in other ways and adapt it to a changing technological cimate.