Members of the Open Screen Project include all five leading handset manufacturers and several large operators as well as other technology, service and content providers.
Adobe is seeking to create a consistent run time environment (Flash intially, and later, Air) that will ease cross device and cross platform development and address technology fragmentation by allowing dynamic over the air updates.
In the short term this will not mean much for the average user. Flash Lite is already available on every S60 handset. The removal of license fees is likely to ensure that things stay this way, but more importantly is likely to increase the number of Flash enabled handsets making for a more compelling cross platform / cross device development platform. Adobe Air is also part of this announcement, but there are no specific guarantees about its inclusion on handsets.
More significant in the longer term is that this indicates the strategy than Adobe is looking to pursue for its web application platform. The concept of rich Internet applications powered by cross platform run time technologies (Silverlight, Air, JavaFX) is generally accepted as being a very important part of the future. In making the Open Screen Project and related announcement Adobe is firing one of the first shots in a battle that is likely to become increasingly important over the next few years.
Here's the relevant extract from the Adobe website:
The Open Screen Project is dedicated to driving consistent rich Internet experiences across televisions, personal computers, mobile devices, and consumer electronics. The Open Screen Project is supported by technology leaders, including Adobe, ARM, Chunghwa Telecom, Cisco, Intel, LG Electronics Inc., Marvell, Motorola, Nokia, NTT DoCoMo, Qualcomm, Samsung Electronics Co., Sony Ericsson, Toshiba and Verizon Wireless, and leading content providers, including BBC, MTV Networks, and NBC Universal, who want to deliver rich Web and video experiences, live and on-demand across a variety of devices.
The Open Screen Project is working to enable a consistent runtime environment – taking advantage of Adobe® Flash® Player and, in the future, Adobe AIR™ -- that will remove barriers for developers and designers as they publish content and applications across desktops and consumer devices, including phones, mobile internet devices (MIDs), and set top boxes. The Open Screen Project will address potential technology fragmentation by allowing the runtime technology to be updated seamlessly over the air on mobile devices. The consistent runtime environment will provide optimal performance across a variety of operating systems and devices, and ultimately provide the best experience to consumers.
Specifically, this work will include:
- Removing restrictions on use of the SWF and FLV/F4V specifications
- Publishing the device porting layer APIs for Adobe Flash Player
- Publishing the Adobe Flash® Cast™ protocol and the AMF protocol for robust data services
- Removing licensing fees – making next major releases of Adobe Flash Player and Adobe AIR for devices free