Adobe for iPad - Need to Step up on Experience

Last month I wrote why Apple doesn’t allow Adobe near the iPhone . Today, Adobe is trying to get into the iPad … Adobe will roll out new publishing software for tablets. This new software, which will soon take its place in the Creative Suite pantheon, will be downloadable from Adobe Labs and will include tools that bridge the gap between print-oriented InDesign and software for interactive formats.

Adobe released a video showcasing the new capabilities, available to watch at Adobe TV and embedded below. You will noticed they added tons of capabilities around content … such switching images, embedding video and rich content … but it’s all about content? What about gesture navigation? what about the experience? For how long will Adobe keep missing the experience aspect that makes Apple, Apple.

The new magazine experience in a tablet is not based on technical capabilities of the tablet, it’s all about providing a richer experience to the user… making it more natural, seamless, human per-se.

Adobe, stop trying to get into the iPhone

Latest news, Adobe finally gets into the iPhone/iPad by delivering Flash-based ads to the iAd network. Mashable reads: “Adobe to Bring Flash-Based Ads to iPhone : Adobe has partnered with ad company Greystripe to deliver Flash-based ads to Apple’s iPhone, iPad and iPod touch. Greystripe makes this possible by converting Flash ads (which the devices do not currently support) into the competing HTML5 format” Now, has Adobe stopped for a second to think, if you can do everything Flash can do in html5, why using Flash at all?

Confirmed: Adobe Flash for the iPhone for 2009

Adobe demoed Flash 10 runtime for mobile back at Adobe Max 2008 on the Android platform, the Windows mobile and the Symbian platform. During the keynote, I remember that Kevin Lynch mentioned that Adobe has been working on Flash for the iPhone without much Apple support …

The ongoing debate over Flash on the iPhone appears to be over after Adobe CEO Shantanu Narayen announced last week at the World Economic Forum that Adobe and Apple are working together in an effort to bring Flash to the iPhone.

While Narayen didn’t answer the question of whether Apple had strengthened its commitment to putting Flash on the iPhone he did point out that the ball was now in Adobe’s court. “We have the developer kit and the onus is now on us,” he said.

During the Bloomberg interview, Narayen said that Adobe plans to have over a million devices shipped by the end of the year that have Flash and he’s not just talking iPhone; the company is working on the Android platform, the Windows mobile and the Symbian platform.

Adobe Max Day 1: Keynote

First big announcement is that there’s a new emphasis on the Flash Platform – as originally called by Macromedia in 2005. Flash, Flex, AIR, and Thermo are just tools to develop experiences using the Flash Runtime, and apparently all these names are just confusing people. Adobe decided to consolidate everything into one platform and market it accordingly. Thermo was officially renamed to Flash Catalyst, and for those of you not familiar with Thermo, it’s a new tool still on early stages of development, targeted to designers or more specifically interactive designers, and allows them to convert a PSD or AI file into a RIA with all events, motions, states, animations, and data… and the best part is that it generates mxml and as3 code so a developer can extend and continue the development using Flex Builder.

Adobe Flash 10 vs. Microsoft Silverlight 2

Big week for Rich Internet Applications with two big releases: Microsoft Silverlight 2 and Adobe Flash 10. Both bring in new sets of capabilities that make the Internet a better place. So anything changes with this new release? should you look into using them, adopting, which one is better? Many questions, but the answer as always is ‘it depends’. I will list all features introduced by the new versions, but an important factor as it has always been, is adoption rate or market penetration. Adobe Flash Player 9 is installed on 97.7% of all computers, and Microsoft has not yet released their percentage…. They claim that Silverlight gets 1.5MM downloads per day (def inflated), but my guess is that they don’t have over 25% penetration with Silverlight 1.0. Adobe has demonstrated their growth rate and can guaranty that Flash 10 will be at 90% penetration within a year, my best guess is that Silverlight 2 won’t even have 15%…. so choose your product wisely, Adobe may have some better features, Microsoft may have others… but if you need anyone to actually see your site, use Flash. If you ever doubt this, remember what happened with the Olympics .

The Sun UK bets on Air & Sex

Sex in advertising is the use of sexual attraction as a tool of persuasion to draw interest to a particular product, for purpose of sale. Gallup & Robinson, an advertising and marketing research firm reports that in more than 50 years of testing advertising effectiveness, it has found the use of the erotic to be a significantly above-average technique in communicating with the marketplace. 

The Sun, a UK newspaper decided to develop a desktop RSS reader to push their news and highlights; now that’s a boring idea. Why would you download yet another RSS reader? Maybe because this one has Keeley Hazell, a Sun page 3 model that usually involves her appearing topless or on a nice tasteful lingerie.