Adobe to discontinue mobile Flash Player

Apple got no shortage of criticism for not allowing Flash in the iOS version of Safari, but its stubbornness has paid off. On Adobe's developer blog this morning, the software firm announced that it's calling it quits and plans to retire Flash Player for mobile devices. Or, in the company's words, "We will no longer continue to develop Flash Player in the browser to work with new mobile device configurations (chipset, browser, OS version, etc.) following the upcoming release of Flash Player 11.1 for Android and BlackBerry PlayBook."

Whoa. Why the drastic change of heart? Adobe justifies the move by pointing out that the industry is heading toward HTML5—words once uttered by Steve Jobs to justify his shunning of the technology. Flash on mobile devices will live ...