Apparently not having learned their lesson about repeatedly getting slapped down by Apple, Adobe seems once more to be trying to get developers to port existing Flash products to iOS, having introduced iPhone and iPad support to Flash Builder and the Flex framework.
This morning, 9to5Mac reported that Adobe announced several new software updates to Flash Builder and their Flex framework. The updates will enable developers to create projects for the iPhone and iPad, as well as the BlackBerry Playbook and Android devices.
Now at version 4.5, Flash Builder and Flex are both included in Adobe’s Creative Suite 5.5 Web Premium, as well as (of course) the Master Collection, and are also available separately at $249 for Flash Builder Standard, and $669 for the premium version.
Here’s a bit of info on this from Adobe’s blog:
As a result, developers can quickly build and distribute apps through the Android Market, BlackBerry App World and Apple App Store using one tool chain, programming language and code base—a first for developers!
Last September, Apple reversed a stance on third-party developer tools that previously prevented developers from using tools like this to create iOS apps, and their current policies do allow for these types of tools to be used.
While it seems that it’s now certainly possible to convert flash-based apps for use in iOS, the real question remains: Are you ready for a whole new level of slow, awful, poorly coded iOS apps to hit the app store? I, for one, know that I’m sure not.
Your thoughts? Sound off in the comments!
