So today, @dannypatterson was tweeting about (roughly) how Motorola XOOM might not ship initially with Flash Player at product launch. The expected roadmap is state here: Update for Flash Player 10.2 Support on Tablets.

Well, as I suspected, Adobe and Motorola are planning on deploying Flash 10.2 onto this device, because of the Honeycomb (i.e. Android 3) it will support.

This post explains what the plans are … which is to ship Flash 10.2 OTA once it’s ready for the device (they are claiming “weeks” after initial product launch).

I should point out this isn’t the 1st time a device hasn’t shipped with Flash preinstalled when people thought it would. We had some of this back in the “Flash Lite” days (aka deja-vu for me).

This is an obvious pain point of having to deal with lots of partners via the Open Screen Project.

If you control the software, platform, and hardware you can do whatever you want, pretty much, whenever you want. If you have partners it’s more complicated.

Once you start dealing with hardware partners, software partners, etc … you have to *plan* and execute correctly for everything. There is a pipeline which effects everyone. One flub in a schedule ripples through partners (unfortunately).

Thus, Adobe, Google, and Motorola need to be in step for the XOOM to be a hit. By hit, I mean something more compelling than the Cupertino slate that dominates the market for no other good reason than they were 1st, and they have great marketing, and a decent package offering.

However, with more than 50 tablets (mostly Android) coming to market this year according to Adobe, which are supposedly “Flash supported”, you’d think at least one OEM would be able to replicate some Apple iPad success, right? … we’ll see.

To me, it’s more about the ecosystems than devices. Seems it’s gotten to the point where any OEM can create the hardware … (I’ve even seen a one man company subcontract a tablet!) … it’s the other stuff, like healthy ecosystems, viable marketplace and user experience which are critical to the success of new devices, IMO.

There’s an upcoming BFPUG (Boston Flash Platform User Group) meeting on Feb 16, 2011 covering mobile development with Flash.

It’s been a while since BFPUG has covered Flash and Adobe’s mobile tooling, so it will be interesting to hear from Adobe on the latest (i.e. Flex, AIR, etc).

Developing Applications for Mobile & Devices Using Flex “Hero” and Flash Builder “Burrito”

Date and Time:
February 16, 2011 07:30 PM – 09:00 PM (GMT-5 Eastern Time US & Canada)

RSVP
Please register and login to RSVP.

Address:
The New England Institute of Art
10 Brookline Place West Brookline, MA 02445
google map

Speaker:
Brian Rinaldi is as a community manager for the Adobe Learning Resources team, where he oversees community strategy for Flash Platform Community Help.

In his role, Brian brings together active Adobe product users, Adobe product team members, authors, and experts to provide users the most useful, relevant, and up-to-date information about Adobe products.

Brian blogs regularly at http://remotesynthesis.com and is a unreformed twitter addict @remotesynth.

Agenda:
In this session we will cover how to use the mobile development tools in Flash Builder “Burrito” (currently available on Labs) and the mobile components in the Flex “Hero” SDK to quickly and easily develop mobile applications for phones and tablets.

We’ll walk through the new Flex view paradigm in Flex for mobile and then work through using more advanced features such as the device camera, microphone, file API, SQLite and gestures.

Thanks to the generosity of the 360|Flex folks, we will be giving away two free tickets to the conference in April. The schedule is fantastic.

And thanks to Adobe, we will be giving away a copy of Adobe Flash Builder 4 Premium and Flash Catalyst CS5 plus a number of other Adobe goodies.

Room 257 : The New England Institute of Art
10 Brookline Place West
Brookline, MA 02445

I’ve been selected as an Adobe Community Professional for 2011 (among a couple hundred of other folks in the community).

I’m not sure how many years I’ve been active, but it may actually be back into the “Macromedia” days.

This year, I’ll be mostly contributing my knowledge, expertise to advocating the tools and services provided by Adobe that make mobile and device apps and solutions easier to design, build, and deploy (e.g. Flash, AIR, Flex, etc).

I want to thank Adobe for providing me this opportunity to support the community in the ways I have available. I’ll do this via blog posts, conferences, user groups, and talking with folks both in both professional and community settings.

I’m not going to promise all my feedback is going to be *all* positive … but it will be *all candid*. I hope this will make Adobe be a better company in the end run.

Among the dozens of Android tablets coming to market this Spring, Toshiba has a Android tablet offering.

It will be supporting Flash, among several other features.

Adobe Open Screen Project partners (like Toshiba) are using Flash to differentiate themselves from what some are calling the market leader (i.e. iPad).

Tapping into GPS on supporting devices is really easy using ActionScript, via the new Geolocation AS3 class, and you can create great looking apps, easily and quickly.

Here’s a recent tutorial : Build a GPS Speedometer for AIR for Android if you’re interested in getting started.

Ralph posted a experiment of Adobe Alchemy running on Nexus One (Adobe AIR app).

Apparently there’s some new Adobe Device Central Updates. Includes: Flash 10.1 Samsung I900 Galaxy S, Vibrant Galaxy S and Galaxy Tab And Flash Lite 3.1 Motorola DEFY profiles have just been released to the CS5 Online Device Library

There’s a new Flash Mobile book out: Professional Flash Mobile Development: Creating Android and iPhone Applications

Here are more details:

Professional Flash Mobile Development: Creating Android and iPhone Applications
Everything Flash developers need to know to create native Android and iPhone apps

This Wrox guide shows Flash developers how to create native applications for Android and iPhone mobile devices using Flash. Packed with practical examples, it shows how to build a variety of apps and integrate them with core mobile services such as Accelerometer, GPS, Photo Library,and more.

Offers Flash developers the tools to create apps for the Android and iPhone mobile devices

• Shows how to design a user interface optimized for Android and iOS and offers plenty of examples for building native Android and iPhone apps with Flash,
• migrating existing Flash media, testing and debugging applications, and more
• Helps you understand ways to work with files on Android and iOS

Professional Flash Mobile Development: Creating Android and iPhone Applications answers the demand for Flash-capable Android and iPhone apps.

Hands-on instructions for developing mobile apps with Flash
The exciting new release of Flash now gives you the capability to create native applications for Android and iPhone and this in-depth guide shows you how to do exactly that.

Author Richard Wagner brings his years of Flash experience to these pages as he walks you through all the key topics related to mobile Flash app development, including multitouch events, motion sensor, accelerometer, GPS, mobile services integration, and more.

You’ll discover how to build an app and then install and debug it on your mobile device. In addition, you’ll learn tips for migrating existing web or desktop apps to run on the Android platform and optimize your apps so that they perform on a level that you demand.

Professional Flash Mobile Development:

• Guides you through the process of getting all the tools in place to install your app onto your Android or iPhone
• Breaks down the necessary steps you must take before submitting your app to the Android Market or App Store
• Teaches you how to create apps that respond to accelerometer events
• Helps you understand ways to work with files on Android and iOS
• Delves into capturing GPS data and using it inside your app
• Explains how to detect orientation changes and respond accordingly

Paperback: 336 pages
Publisher: Wrox; Pap/Psc edition (January 25, 2011)
Language: English
ISBN-10: 0470620072
ISBN-13: 978-0470620076

There’s a slated book on developing games for Android devices using Flash and AIR. It’s slated for this summer.

Pro Android Flash Games: Developing Flash Game Apps for Android-based Smartphones and Tablets (Book)

Pro Android Flash Games: Developing Flash Game Apps for Android-based Smartphones and Tablets

Product Description
iPhone does not support Flash in the browser, but don’t despair…Android does! In today’s mobile marketplace, games are a key area where developers can maximize their time, energy, and passion. With mobile games on the Android platform, developers can not only target phones, but also tablets and other interesting form-factors.

Pro Android Flash Games is the definitive guide to building Flash games for the Android platform. It teaches you how to build engaging, social applications that run on Android devices using Adobe Flash technology.

This is the only book that provides essential knowledge specific to targeting mobile Android devices, including input methods, hardware inputs, deployment, and performance optimization.

You will also learn tips and tricks on boosting sales of your application and monetizing your traffic straight from the industry pros.

What you’ll learn

• Deployment of Flash and AIR to Android
• How to take your desktop Flash games and adapt them for mobile devices
• How to integrate hardware inputs from the camera, GPS, compass, and accelerometer
• How to deploy your application on the Android Market and integrate advertisements
• How to integrate styling and artifacts from a professional designer
• Best practices for mobile performance tuning and optimization

Who this book is for
This book is for Flash developers who are interested in creating Flash-based games for mobile devices which run the Android platform.

Developers who are already familiar with Adobe Flash technology, but do not have a lot of experience developing for mobile platforms will find essential information in this book that will save them time and effort and allow them to leverage their existing skill set.

This book provides a consolidated, expert source of information on critical topics like adapting games for the mobile profile, taking advantage of mobile-specific hardware, and performance tuning applications for the Android hardware.

Paperback: 350 pages
Publisher: Apress; 1 edition (May 13, 2011)
Language: English
ISBN-10: 1430232730
ISBN-13: 978-1430232735

There’s a slated book called: Flash Mobile: Developing Android and iOS Applications which covers developing Flash applications for Android and iOS.

Build rich media applications for the iOS and Android platforms with this primer to Flash mobile development. You get all of the essentials-from setting up your development environment to publishing your apps to the Google Market Place/Apple iTunes App Store.

Develop elementary applications without coding; then realize the power of ActionScript 3 to add rich complexity to your applications. Step-by-step instruction is combined with practical tutorial lessons to deliver a working understanding of the development stages including:

* Rapid prototyping
* Adding interactivity, audio, and video
* Employing iOS and Android Interface Calls
* Hardware optimization with AIR *Game development; game engines, controlling physics, and 3D *Designing for iPad, Android tablets, and Google TV *Code optimization, testing, and debugging

User interfaces are presented in full color to illustrate their nuances.

The companion website, www.visualizetheweb/flashmobile, includes all of the AS3 code, project files, and a blog to keep you up to date with related news and developments.

Paperback: 340 pages
Publisher: Focal Press; 1 edition (March 10, 2011)
Language: English
ISBN-10: 0240815688
ISBN-13: 978-0240815688