Web Concepts

Posts Tagged ‘Adobe’

One of the biggest technology stories of 2010 has been the battle between Flash and HTML5 over who will reign supreme as the standard-bearer for video on the web and beyond.

It is hard to believe something as ‘techy’ as HTML5 would find itself as a headline in major consumer publications, but thanks to a little open letter from Steve Jobs to world, HTML5 soon became a word everyone was talking about. In that letter, Jobs argued several key points on why his popular iPhone and iPad devices would not be supporting the de facto standard for video, Adobe Flash, going so far as to say “We don’t spend a lot of energy on old technology” and reportedly telling Wall Street Journal staff that Flash was a “CPU hog” and a source of “security holes.”

When Jobs speaks people listen, and as a result HTML5 saw a huge boost in adoption rates in 2010. Web cataloging service MeFeedia reported in October that 54% of online video is now available in HTML5 format. Are you thinking “that’s not that impressive, 54% is barely more than half”? Then let’s look at the most amazing part about this statistic. In January of 2010 the percentage of online video that was available in HTML5 was just 10%. That means the percentage of online video available in HTML5 format grew 5X in just 9 months. Can you think of another technology standard showing those kinds of rapid adoption rates? I can’t.

HTML5 and Flash: Choosing the best solution for your business

There is no doubt that HTML5 is demonstrating explosive growth as an adopted standard, but does that mean Flash is dying? Absolutely not. HTML5 should not be considered a replacement technology for Flash, just a competitive one. Although Jobs would like you to believe the Flash versus HTML5 battle is an either/or situation, it isn’t. Each standard offers unique features and functionality that make both of them appropriate depending on the technology goals your company wants to accomplish or the activities you, as a consumer, want to enjoy. For example, you should probably:

Choose HTML5

• If you are running your video on low-end systems
• If you are looking to save costs (and not have to purchase Flash licenses)
• If you want your video/application to be supported on the iPhone, iPad or other Apple platforms
• If it is important that you work with an open development environment

Choose Flash

• If your product needs to support a wide variety of browsers, including older models like IE6
• If you need powerful video streaming and video playback capabilities, like with live events
• If you are concerned about content protection and want to prevent people from reposting your content
• If you want to be able to splice in commercials dynamically throughout the video
• If you need integration with webcams and microphones to support new interactive features like two way video chat

Before you’re tempted to jump on the “Flash is dying” bandwagon, let’s look at the Flash facts as they stand today:

• 1.2 billion mobile phones are Flash capable
• 70% of online gaming sites run Flash
• 98% percent of Internet-enabled desktops use it
• 85% of top 100 websites use Flash
• Many major websites use Flash, including Hulu, Disney and YouTube
• 2-3 million people belong to the Flash developer community
• 90% of creative professionals have Adobe software on their desktops

A technology that has penetration rates like that clearly is offering value to a lot of people and will not disappear overnight. It is powerful and useful in a variety of different functions and in head-to-head competition against HTML5 it has also managed to fight off some of the “CPU hog” categorizations.

2011: Who will win the video battle?

Despite Flash’s market leadership, HTML5 is clearly being rapidly adopted as a new standard of online video technology, and companies need to prepare their growth strategies to incorporate it. However, it is still early and HTML5 doesn’t give you all the same features and functionality that Flash does today, so you’ll want to consider your options wisely.

The bottom line is that there won’t be a single ‘winner’ when it comes to online video. Apple’s not going to knock out Adobe. Adobe’s not going to eradicate HTML5. All of these technologies and vendors will continue to evolve and, ultimately, consumers will reap the rewards from the innovative solutions that emerge from this competition.

Dominique Jodoin is president and chief executive officer of Bluestreak Technology, maker of an integrated Flash and HTML5 platform for delivering rich media across a variety of devices. He has more than 23 years of experience in the mobile and wireless industry. Prior to joining Bluestreak, he was President Americas at mobile software management company Red Bend Software. He was previously vice president of business development within the Mobile Systems Division of Alcatel, executive vice president at WaterCove Networks, a venture-backed company that was acquired by Alcatel in 2004, and spent 17 years with Ericsson in a variety of executive positions in Canada and around the World.

[Top photo credit: dishhh]

Tags: Flash, HTML5, video

Companies: Adobe, Apple

People: Dominique Jodoin, Steve Jobs

Adobe chief executive Shantanu Narayen (pictured with chief technology officer Kevin Lynch) today denied reports that he has been negotiating with Microsoft about a possible acquisition.

The New York Times reported last month that Narayen met with Microsoft CEO Steve Ballmer to talk about an alliance against Apple, which might include an acquisition. Speaking on-stage at the Web 2.0 Summit in San Francisco, Narayen said the discussion really focused on “how we can be a great ISV” — in other words, an “independent software vendor” reselling Microsoft products. Interviewer John Battelle suggested that the key word there was probably “independent”, and Narayen replied, “Absolutely independent”. (The Times later reported that the discussions did move past the preliminary phase.)

So why the rumors of a Microsoft acquisition gave a big boost to Adobe stock, Battelle asked. Why do investors like the idea of a Microsoft-Adobe acquisition? Narayen responded that acquisition rumors always send the supposed acquiree’s stock price up.

“It’s just the nature of the beast,” he said.

As evidence that Adobe has a future as an independent company, Narayen said Adobe is having “a phenomenal year” and is on-track to grow revenue 25 percent this year compared to last year.

Beyond the finances, one conference attendee discussed how Adobe has changed. The questioner argued that the Adobe he became a loyal customer of 10 years ago is not the Adobe of today, and he asked Narayen how he sees Adobe’s identity now.

“We will continue to change the world through digital experiences,” Narayen said.

Tags: Web 2.0 Summit

Companies: Adobe, Microsoft

People: Shantanu Narayen

In the late 1990s, it was common for companies to spend $50,000 to $150,000 for a Flash homepage that looked like a beautiful brochure. However, they soon learned that Flash was cumbersome, slow to load, expensive to build, and hard to update, and moved on to HTML. Now only specialized, high-end sites are Flash only.

The exact same thing has replayed itself on the iPhone. Companies have paid $50,000, $100,000, and more for an iPhone app. Now they have to keep the iPhone app in sync with their regular web site, and have to add additional native apps, each at a high price point, due to the hypergrowth of Android and newly viable platforms like Windows Phone 7.

Businesses are moving on to HTML5

Banks and airlines, commonly known as technology laggards, are well ahead of the rest of the industry when it comes to mobile access to their systems. Banks and airlines are deploying highly functional, HTML5 mobile optimized websites that offer a high level of functionality relative to their full-fledged websites and existing iPhone apps. What is it that banks and airlines have figured out that Silicon Valley startups with their focus on native Apps have not figured out?

Compare the banks and airline mobile experience to that of the top digital agencies, many of which are still obsessed with Flash home pages and have sites that render incorrectly if at all on mobile handsets. This was first pointed out in a hilarious post by Nick Jones in August with screenshots of the top digital agencies, most of which do not render at all on a mobile browser, and then followed up. AdAge followed up with an article in September about the World’s Worst Agency Websites for iPhone and iPads.

Even at my company Webtrends, with a powerful mobile analytics solution, and recently acquired mobile apps technology, our website renders well on a mobile phone but we are still in the process of optimizing the content so that it easier to navigate.

The native vs. HTML5 battle is irrelevant to businesses

The digerati in Silicon Valley have been arguing ad infinitum about the merits of native vs. HTML mobile apps. Businesses have now picked a winner, given the prohibitive cost of multiple native apps, and the features of an average business app which can be amply supported with mobile HTML5 browsers, which even include GPS.

Carol Steinberg, SVP of E-Commerce for NBC summed it perfectly: “We’re really keen on ROI and making sure what we’re investing in the mobile platform is a worthwhile and good investment. I am just starting to feel that HTML5 will be able to give us the functions we need on our m-commerce site versus app development for the iPhone and Android, which means three platforms we have to maintain and upgrade.” Even , Bob Muglia, Microsoft’s President of Servers and Tools, recently stated that “HTML is the only true cross-platform solution for everything, including (Apple’s) iOS platform”.

There will always be a place for native apps — particularly in communications, gaming, graphics intensive applications — and for the interim they’re an efficient mechanism to process payments until phones are updated with better payment systems. Some businesses may still continue to deploy native apps on one or two platforms that have some additional features. An increasingly popular and almost indistinguishable method of creating a content-oriented app is to wrap a native shell around a browser showing a HTML5 mobile optimized site using technologies like PhoneGap.

Overall native apps have run their course. They get lost in the app store and are hard to find, requiring businesses to post “Available on the App Store” icons on their homepages, where they could just as easily post a “SMS this site to your phone”. Even with over 6 billion apps downloaded, research has shown that most of these are ignored or disposed, and users are only running on average 4-6 apps each, most of which use very native features like communications and the camera.Important apps like maps and Facebook are considered core to the device and are even built in to feature phones nowadays.

Remember, a smartphone is really just a very portable computer

The smartphones of today are fundamentally no different from a computer. Smartphones have browsers, applications, decent screen resolution, and a lot of processing power and RAM. When you use your notebook computer and want to check if your flight is on time, do you download the United Airlines computer application, install it, and then lookup your flight? No, because it’s not 1995.

You use your browser.The browser is not as functional as a Windows or Mac OS application, but it gets the job done. You don’t have to deal with installing anything and remembering where you put an icon on your desktop. As more and more business mobile optimize their websites, downloading an app in order access businesses is going to seem archaic.

Peter Yared is the vice president and general manager of Webtrend Apps, a platform used to engage customers on Facebook, iPhone and Android. He came to Webtrends via the acquisition of Transpond, a social and mobile marketing company he founded in 2007.

Tags: Android, apps, iOS, iPad, iPhone

Companies: Adobe, Apple, Google, Microsoft, nbc

People: Bob Muglia, Carol Steinberg

Mobile browser developer SkyFire has seemingly done the impossible by getting its Flash video-capable web browser approved for Apple’s App Store.

The SkyFire 2.0 browser was submitted for Apple’s approval in early September, and at the time we argued that Apple would have very little reason not to accept the browser. Now we’ve learned that it will be available for download at 9 a.m. ET Thursday morning for $2.99 from the App Store, according to a report by CNN.

SkyFire’s big claim to fame is its ability to play video embedded on web sites with Adobe’s Flash technology. But since Flash still isn’t supported on the iPhone, the browser goes through some clever hoops to play Flash video: SkyFire’s cloud-computing technology allows the browser to translate Flash videos in real-time to Apple-approved HTML5 standard. The company says it adheres to all of Apple’s video and browser guidelines — including the use of a WebKit browser core and H.264 adaptive video streaming.

SkyFire 2.0 also makes its Flash video streaming very efficient. The browser compresses video data by about 75 percent on average — making it easier to stream videos without buffering, and saving precious battery life in the process.

The browser won’t play video from Hulu, CNN notes. It also won’t be able play other Flash elements like games, or let users view websites that rely on Flash for navigation.

You can view a demonstration of the app below:

Tags: App Store, apps, Flash, iOS, iPhone, Skyfire 2.0, smartphones, streaming, video, web browser

Companies: Adobe, Apple, Skyfire

Adobe company has launched today new branded service Acrobat.com and Acrobat 9 with Flash support. These products are the next additions to existing services like Adobe Photoshop Express and Adobe TV.

Acrobat.com is a combination of 3 services: Adobe Brio (online communication), Adobe Buzzword (online text editor) and Adobe Share (online depository of files). Thus these services can compete with Google Docs and Microsoft Office Live Workspace.

Text editor Buzzword allows to create text files online and convert them into .pdf files. Adobe Share allows to store your files up to 5 Gb and share them. Brio service is a light version of Acrobat Connect wich allows to contact 3 persons at the same time, use web cams, voice messages and chatting.

Now Acrobat 9 supports Flash. You can create a PDF file and integrate flash movie from Youtube easily!