It’s been a good month for Adobe and its mobile efforts, first with Apple relaxing its Flash developer tool ban and now the release of AIR for Android today.
AIR for Android opens the door for AIR applications on Android devices though it may take a short while before we see the first apps. You’ll still want to download the Air app from Android Market first because you’ll need it to take advantage of the new apps as they become available. And as a reminder, this only works for Android 2.2 devices.
Why this all matters is that it will allow Flash developers to build desktop, browser, iOS and now Android devices apps that work off the same source code. Working with Flash tools, they can easily package an existing application for Android with minimal work.
It may not always mean great apps that can take advantage of each device’s unique hardware. But with the increasing flexibility of Flash tools, developers will be able to quickly port over games and other apps to a wider array of devices. Developers typically limit the number of platforms they target, hitting on average 2.8 platforms.
If you’re curious about what kind of apps are on the way, take a look at some of the private beta prerelease AIR apps here.
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