Adobe Flash secures set-top deal
Adobe has secured a deal to put its Flash software into many of the chips that go inside TVs and set-top boxes. — It will enable developers and content providers to create applications to deliver web-based content such as news, weather and share prices to TV screens.
Context & Ripple Effects
Adobe had already been extending Flash beyond PCs, from an earlier move to open Flash on mobiles to a January Intel optimization plan for TV web content. The new chip-level distribution gives that TV strategy a route into hardware rather than relying solely on software downloads.
The significance is reach: developers and content providers can use Flash to bring web-oriented news, weather and market applications to television screens through compatible TVs and set-top boxes.
First-order effects
- Developers and content providers gain a supported path to build Flash applications for compatible TV and set-top-box screens, expanding their addressable display beyond computers and mobiles.
- Adobe extends Flash distribution into the digital-home hardware supply chain, making the platform available where TV applications are delivered.
Second-order effects
- TV-oriented application makers must adapt web content for living-room interfaces, creating demand for Flash experiences designed around television screens rather than desktop browsing.
- The Intel-focused TV work gains a clearer commercial outlet as Flash-capable chips can connect processor support to applications and content services.
Third-order effects
- If chip-level deployment becomes widespread, web application platforms will compete for control of the television interface through hardware partnerships as well as developer adoption.
- Adobe is building a cross-device Flash footprint in which the same application platform can span mobile devices and digital-home screens.
The trend: Web application platforms are pushing from computers into embedded consumer devices, with chip partnerships becoming a key distribution channel.