Adobe launches Open Screen Project
01-05-2008
by Billy MacInnes

Adobe has launched an initiative to use Flash technology to deliver rich web and video content across TVs, PCs, mobile devices and consumer electronic products.

The aim of the Open Screen Project, which is supported by a number of companies including Motorola, Nokia, Intel, Cisco, Samsung and Sony Ericsson, is to provide a standard platform for developers to run content and applications across desktops, mobile devices and set-top boxes, using Flash and the recently-launched AIR (Adobe Integrated Runtime) platform. AIR is Adobe's software for running and creating web applications that run both online and offline.

As adoption of mobile devices has rocketed consumers are increasingly looking for the same kind of rich experiences on their handhelds and other devices as they have on their PCs. While Adobe portrayed the initiative as a way to provide optimal performance across a variety of operating systems and devices, there were suspicions the move was partly fuelled by a desire to head off the challenge of rivals Microsoft and Sun and their respective Silverlight and Java FX environments.

While Adobe claims Flash is "the world's most pervasive client runtime" and that it reaches "over 98 percent of internet-enabled desktops", it is nowhere near as prevalent at handset and mobile level. Nevertheless, Adobe estimates more than half a billion handsets and mobile devices use Flash and expects more than 1 billion handsets and mobile devices to ship with the technology by 2009. In opening Flash up Adobe is giving developers and device manufacturers easier access to the inner workings of Flash so that the technology can, in theory, take off at a quicker pace.

Shantanu Narayen, chief executive officer at Adobe, said the project was part of a "common vision to provide rich, interactive experiences across computers, devices and consumer electronics. A consistent, more open platform for developers will drive rapid innovation, vastly improving the user experience".

Adobe has pledged to open access to its Flash technology by removing restrictions on the use of SWF and FLV/F4V specifications, removing licensing fees for the next major releases of Flash and AIR for devices and publishing the device porting layer APIs for Flash. The changes make it possible for developers to build Flash players using the .swf file format, prohibited until now by the vendor's licensing terms.

David Wadhwani, general manager and vice president of the platform business unit at Adobe, told CNet.com that the supporters of the project were "a who's who of the industry".

He said there were "five times the number of connected devices than PCs in the world. The consumer market is demanding video and rich content across all of these screens".

Rikko Sakaguchi, head of portfolio and proposition, at Sony Ericsson Mobile Communications, one of the companies supporting the project, said in a statement: "Flash technology and Adobe AIR are natural fits to Sony Ericsson's strategy of building on the best of the Open Web Standards and will help provide new mobile experiences to millions of users around the world."