Adobe has announced it will abandon Flash development for TV as well as for mobile.

With the multiplication of connected video devices with different user environments, service providers are forced to choose solutions that can reach as many devices as possible. However, applications running in a browser or the Flash environment are slower than native applications, and porting software from one embedded system to another is costly and time-consuming.

Adobe justified its decision as a move away from web browsing, and getting closer to the applications approach of Android, Apple and Microsoft operating systems.

What is the impact on service providers?

In the short term, the absence of any upgrade path will make products already running Flash as a browser plug-in “stable”.  In the long term, however, Flash will resemble a proprietary environment, becoming less attractive for developers of new applications or standards.

For operators dependent on traditional middleware seeking to enter the connected TV space it makes sense to move to Android, Apple or Microsoft as the alternative to Flash. Another option could be the Franco-German HbbTV standard, since it can run as an application in these environments or on a proprietary idTV or STB stack. HbbTV is aiming to create an interoperable platform, and its current development will allow connected TVs to integrate adaptive streaming and DRM.

For the tablet and mobile market, it is likely that development of Flash-based applications on Android OS devices will now tail off.  Android would lose an important advantage compared to Apple – the field might clear up for HTML-5 to harmonize it all.

To learn more about Farncombe’s experience on Android and HbbTV , or  discuss the latest events in TV middleware, please contact us here.