Adobe abandons mobile Flash

The biggest complaint from iPhone owners to date has been the inability to access sites that use Adobe’s Flash player. Adobe spent years appealing Apple’s decision without success. Now the company is throwing in the towel.

Adobe has announced plans to cease developing its Flash Player plug-in for mobile browsers – a move that may well signal the end of Flash. The company instead plans to focus on HTML5.

It’s a loss for the company but could be a win for the entertainment and gaming communities, since it puts an end to the dueling protocols in the growing mobile world. Companies that sided with Flash will have to retrench, but in doing so, they’ll be able to offer their content to a much wider audience.

While Adobe is retreating in mobile, it’s standing behind Flash on the desktop PC, where it has a much bigger footprint.