By Elizabeth Montalbano, IDG News Service, 04/20/2009

Adobe Systems on Monday unveiled a version of its Flash multimedia streaming technology that would allow people to run entertainment programming directly to television sets from the Internet, a new option for the rapidly changing digital-home market.

Adobe also has signed up a host of partners to support the technology, called the Adobe Flash Platform for the Digital Home. The new platform is available now to OEMs, and the first devices and processors that will support it should be available in the second half of the year, Adobe said.

Partners that have signed on to support the new version of Flash are Atlantic Records, Broadcom, Comcast, Disney Interactive Media Group, Intel, Netflix, STMicroelectronics, The New York Times Company, NXP Semiconductors and Sigma Designs.

Industry analyst Ben Bajarin, director of consumer technology for Creative Strategies, said the news is significant because it makes Flash the first enabling technology to allow entertainment providers to stream content directly to televisions. Currently, the way to get this kind of content onto televisions is mainly by hooking up a PC to a TV or set-top box, he said.

April 20, 2009

Adobe Systems Inc. is extending its Flash platform to digital home entertainment devices like TV sets, Blu-ray players and set-top boxes.

Adobe announced Monday that the move will let people watch high-definition videos, play Flash-based games and access other Web content on their Internet-connected TV sets.

Flash is still not available for the iPhone, one of the most popular smartphones for Web browsing.

.... An Adobe spokesman said previously that the company is “committed to bringing Flash Player to the iPhone,” although no timeline has been given.

By Antone Gonsalves
April 20, 2009

Adobe on Monday said its Flash platform for running rich Internet applications and playing online video will ship in major vendors' digital TVs and set-top boxes in the second half of the year.

Flash will be incorporated in the system-on-a-chip products from Broadcom, Intel, NXP, Sigma Designs, and Mediatek. The integration will extend Adobe's reach with Flash beyond PCs and mobile phones.

About 98% of PCs have Flash installed and almost 80% of online video is seen through Flash, according to Adobe. The number of mobile phones shipping with Flash Lite is expected to reach 1 billion this year and more than 2.5 billion by the end of next year, according to Strategy Analytics.

....Companies that have announced plans to offer content for Flash-supporting TVs include Atlantic Records, Disney Interactive Media Group, Netflix, and The New York Times. Adobe and partners made the announcements at the National Association of Broadcasters show in Las Vegas.

A major competitor to Adobe in the market for supplying development platforms for the next-generation Web applications is Microsoft, which offers Flash rival Silverlight. However, Silverlight has nowhere near the reach of Flash, but has seen 350 million downloads, according to Microsoft. Key customers of the platform include NBC and Netflix.

April 20, 2009

Adobe Systems Inc. announced it has unveiled a software framework, code-named Strobe that will help establish an open industry standard for media players. This software framework accelerates the creation and delivery of high-quality video and interactive experiences for Web audiences third-party developers.