Flash for Android Dies

In November of last year, Adobe made a surprising about-face on its popular Flash plugin, announcing that it would stop development of Flash for mobile devices. Adobe will disable new installs of Flash on Android, effectively cutting it off from the future of the mobile web — despite the company's historical assertion that Flash would enable the full web experience on mobile devices. Instead, Adobe surrendered the major mobile battlegrounds and pledged allegiance to HTML5.

Adobe had grand plans for mobile Flash, but the company met a sizable early wall when Apple refused to adopt it. Despite the company's push to get Flash on all platforms with its Open Screen Project, it never solved iOS support under Steve Jobs, who famously fought against Flash in favor of HTML5. Adobe never really had a chance with iOS, but it faltered where it did have a chance — on Android. Despite attempts at marketing and Android integration, Adobe withdrew from Android, shutting it out of roughly 85 percent of the mobile market.