socialmedian: Android This Week: Flash Coming to the Browser

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Android This Week: Flash Coming to the Browser

Source: GigaOM

Jul 04, 2009

Summary

The biggest news in the Android world this week came from embedded systems developer BSquare, which said it’s developed a version of Flash Lite for the Google phone OS. The BSquare Flash module will be distributed to OEMs as a browser plug-in for inclusion on devices running on the ARM platform.

This Flash module would make it possible to play streaming video inside the browser, a capability smartphones have been sorely lacking. Most online video sites (such as YouTube and Hulu) use Flash technology to stream video; the lack of Flash support has kept mobile browsers from sharing in their growing popularity.

This module from BSquare makes Android the first mobile phone platform to get browser support for Flash. That has to have the folks in both Cupertino and Redmond grinding their teeth, as neither Apple nor Microsoft have included Flash support on the iPhone or Windows Mobile platforms, respectively. Apple has indicated it doesn’t believe Flash is “good enough” for the iPhone Safari browser, but we’ll see how the company feels once it’s available for Android.