Motorola's much-anticipated Xoom tablet, which is expected to launch this week, will be among the first devices to ship with Android 3.0, codenamed Honeycomb. Motorola has recently confirmed that the Xoom will not ship with Adobe's Flash browser plug-in—the company says that support for Flash will be available through a software update at some point in the spring.
Adobe has responded by clarifying the status of Flash Player 10.2, the version of Flash that will be compatible with upcoming Android tablets. Adobe aims to have Flash 10.2 ready "within a few weeks" after Android 3.0 devices begin to reach consumers, at which point it will be available for over-the-air installation on Android 3.0 tablets.
"Adobe will offer Flash Player 10.2 preinstalled on some tablets and as an OTA download on others within a few weeks of Android 3 (Honeycomb) devices becoming available, the first of which is expected to be the Motorola Xoom," wrote Adobe's Matt Rozen. "We are excited about the progress we’ve made optimizing Flash for tablets, alongside partners including Motorola, and expect our momentum to continue."
The implication is that Xoom purchasers won't get Flash right out of the box, but probably won't have to wait long to get the feature. Given that the Xoom starts shipping this week, Adobe's timeline of "a few weeks" could mean that Flash will become available for the Xoom as early as the end of March.
Adobe first brought the full version of the Flash player to the Android platform last year with the release of Flash 10.1 for Android 2.2. Our tests on the Nexus One demonstrated the viability of Flash on handheld devices, challenging Apple's rejection of the plug-in on its own iOS platform. Native support for Flash could potentially be a competitive advantage for Android-based tablets that hope to compete with Apple's iPad.
Adobe says that over 50 different tablet models from various vendors will ship with Flash in 2011. The company predicts that over 132 million devices will have the Flash player installed by the end of 2011.
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