Adobe Flash Player comes to Android … slowly

Adobe Air gets Android version later this year

Adobe announced the availability of a version beta Flash Player for mobile phones with Android operating system from Google.

For now it’s a version beta aimed at programmers, but it is already guaranteed that the next step will be to open the test version to the general public, an evolution still without a defined date. The only known forecast is related to the launch of the final version of the product which will arrive in the 2nd semester.

However, those interested in trying the public version of the beta, for end users, can register online and be notified when it is available.

Although Adobe has not put forward specific official dates for the release of versions aimed at the end user, the company’s executive director, Shantanu Narayen, said during an interview with Fox Business Network, quoted by PC World, that versions compatible with the «smartphones and tablets«from Google, RIM and Palm during the second half of the year».

To be confirmed, the novelty implies a postponement of the availability of the Android version, which the company had promised for the first half of 2010. There were no reasons for the delay.

The technology’s CEO also took the opportunity to criticize Apple’s last steps towards dispensing Flash from its mobile ecosystem.

«It is not as much a technological decision as it is a business decision,» said the official, who believes that it was the company’s choice to keep its «proprietary and closed system» and consequently without support for Flash. In his opinion, it is ultimately harmful to consumers.