RIM Tries To Ease Developer Fears On FlashRIM Tries To Ease Developer Fears On Flash

RIM BlackBerry PlayBook Teardown

If there's one thing RIM co-CEO Mike Lazaridis loves to brag about, it is the PlayBook tablet's ability to play Flash-based content. Adobe announced Wednesday that it will no longer develop new mobile Flash products, and will instead focus its efforts on HTML5. What sort of lurch does this move leave RIM in, and what's RIM going to do about it?

Dan Dodge, president and CEO of QNX (which RIM acquired), took to the Web Thursday to quash any potential fears that PlayBook developers might have.

"Earlier today, Adobe announced plans to stop investing in Flash for mobile browsing, and focus more efforts on HTML5," he wrote. "As an Adobe source code licensee, we will continue to work on and release our own implementations, and are looking forward to including Flash 11.1 for the BlackBerry PlayBook."

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Adobe said that Flash Player Mobile 11.1, which is on deck for release, would be the last version distributed by the company before it ceases Flash mobile efforts.

The PlayBook's browser uses Flash and HTML5, and RIM said Adobe's move makes sense. "We are pleased that Adobe will focus its efforts on next generation Flash-based apps delivered via AIR and BlackBerry App World as well as the great opportunities that HTML5 presents for our developers," said Dodge.

According to Dodge, RIM is "energized" by the possibilities embodied in HTML5, and the company looks forward to further enhancing the browsers of its BlackBerry smartphones and the PlayBook tablet. RIM maintains that it can continue to deliver a full-featured Web and app experience because its products rely on a handful of platforms (rather than just one) to make it possible for users to experience and consume the content they want.

"The PlayBook browser does a great job of supporting both HTML5 and Flash, including industry leading HD video streaming," said Adobe's Danny Winokur in Dodge's blog post. "Adobe and RIM are focused on HTML5 innovation for mobile browsing and believe it is the best solution for developers to deliver rich Web experiences on RIM's BlackBerry products and other mobile devices. RIM has the ability to continue working on and releasing its own implementations of Flash Player 11 and beyond."

And therein lies the rub. It will be up to RIM to continue to develop Flash on its own moving forward. Adobe will only provide security support and bug fixes as needed. RIM already has enough development work on its hands as it prepares to transition its core BlackBerry devices from its Java-based legacy system to the BBX-based next-gen system.

Can RIM handle all the work ahead of it and manage to fill in Adobe's shoes at the same time? It appears to be confident that it can.