mocoNews - Will Flash Come To Android Before The iPhone?

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Tricia Duryee

mocoNews.net
Wednesday, March 25, 2009; 6:59 PM

Even though the iPhone has been around for longer than Google's Android, it appears that Android will get Adobe's Flash technology first. Here's the indications: First, the Android operating system is open, so just about anyone can take the appropriate steps to embed it. Second, a tier one global carrier appears to be doing just that.

The announcement is coming from Bsquare, which is the company embedding the technology into the handsets. The Bellevue, Wash.-based company said today it is porting Adobe's Flash technology onto Google's Android platform "for a global Tier 1 carrier." In this case, Bsquare's customer is not Adobe (NSDQ: ADBE) or Google (NSDQ: GOOG), but the unnamed carrier. A spokeswoman from the company wouldn't budge on saying which operator it is, or when the phone will be launched. One can guess that the carrier may be T-Mobile since there are very few global carriers?especially ones that have adopted the Android platform so strongly. As for Flash on the iPhone, both Apple (NSDQ: AAPL) and Adobe have said they are working together on a solution, but no one knows when it will be ready.

To be sure, embedding Flash on to devices isn't new, but it seems to be something the industry and consumers are eagerly awaiting on high-end devices, like the iPhone and Android. Today, publishers and content providers, like YouTube, are inconvenienced because they use Flash online to stream videos, but then it doesn't work on mobile phones (even ones that have full browsers).