Adobe on Monday announced partnerships with numerous handset operating system makers, including Research in Motion, Nokia, Palm, Google and Microsoft, to bring Flash Player 10.1 to smartphones. Absent from the list: Apple. 

Flash 10.1 is expected to be available as a public beta for Google Android and Nokia’s Symbian OS in early 2010. Developer betas of the browser-based runtime will be available for Windows Mobile and Palm webOS later this year. No date was given for BlackBerry devices. 

Adobe said that the new mobile version of Flash offers accelerated video and graphics capabilities while conserving battery life. The new player offers streaming video in HD and browser-based Web applications. 

“With Flash Player moving to new mobile platforms, users will be able to experience virtually all Flash technology based Web content and applications wherever they are,” said David Wadhwani, general manager and vice president, Platform Business Unit at Adobe. “We are excited about the broad collaboration of close to 50 industry leaders in the Open Screen Project and the ongoing collaboration with 19 out of the top 20 handset manufacturers worldwide. It will be great to see first devices ship with full Flash Player in the first half of next year.” 

Of course, the elusive twentieth manufacturer missing from Adobe’s lineup is Apple. 

Though the iPhone is not included among the handsets, past reports have suggested that Adobe hopes to bring it to the platform. If that were to happen, though, Flash would have to overcome its various shortcomings on mobile devices as perceived by Apple co-founder Steve Jobs. 

With Flash 10.1, Adobe aims to have cross-compatibility with PCs, smartphones, netbooks and a range of devices with various screen sizes. The effort is a part of the company’s Open Screen Project initiative, which includes more than 50 companies.

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Though Flash is still not available on the iPhone, Adobe announced Monday that developers will be able to export their applications created in the format within CS5 for submission to Apple’s App Store. 

Accordingly, Adobe launched its new “Applications for iPhone” Web page, touting the ability to build applications for the iPhone and iPod touch using ActionScript 3. The page shows three applications that were created via Flash and ported to the iPhone OS as native software. 

“We’ve done a lot of work to make sure that applications are quick and interactive, and give you the kind of experience that you would expect from Flash, as well as the kind of experience that you’ve come to expect on your iPhone,” said Adrian Ludwig, a member of Adobe’s Flash team. 

The applications currently available on the App Store are Chroma Circuit, Trading Stuff, Fickleblox, Just Letters, South Park, That Roach Game and Red Hood. All were created with a pre-relse build of Flash Professional CS5. 

“What developers have to do is they have to go inside of Flash Pro and they have to export that project to a native application for the iPhone,” Ludwig said. “While you’re using Flash Pro to build these applications, it’s being converted from .SWF to .IPA.” 

He noted that the method is in compliance with the iPhone developer agreement, which means the software can be submitted to the App Store for approval. The feature will be available for both PC and Mac, and a public beta is planned for later this year. 

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With Apple’s influence hanging over the Mobile World Congress event this week, the Royal Bank of Canada has released a comprehensive comparison chart of eight contenders that threaten to steal some of the iPhone’s customers.

Though the firm still sees the iPhone as solidly superior to its competition, analyst Mike Abramsky told clients he’s still concerned about the risk posed to Apple with the crop of newcomers.

“Some — notably Google, Palm, Microsoft, HTC — appears to offer ‘good enough’ functional alternatives, including PC-like internet browsing, consumer UI/navigation, touch manipulation, messaging, applications/services, carrier functionality — with alternative hardware form factors (e.g. keyboards, sliders, etc) that may appeal to some potential iPhone customers,” he wrote.

Abramsky believes multiple launches on North American and European carriers, expected in the second half of this year, could force Apple’s hand on pricing and marketing as the newcomers compete for mindshare and carrier shelf space. The analyst said that any new iPhone models – referring to his research note from earlier this month – could enter a “more competitive landscape” than the previous versions of Apple’s popular smartphone.

“We see possible revaluation…on revised growth/margin expectations, lowered visibility, and renewed uncertainty re leadership,” he concluded.

Abramsky isn’t the first Wall Street analyst to suggest that Apple may alter its iPhone pricing structure when a third-generation model hits the market sometime this year. Earlier this month, both Kaufman Bros’ Shaw Wu and Bernstein’s Toni Sacconaghi issued similar comments. Wu cited sources who said Apple and AT&T were discussing the possibility of offering customers more data plan options, including some restrictive but more affordable plans, while Sacconaghi simply cited comments from a one-on-one meeting with Apple’s acting chief executive Tim Cook that suggest the company is looking into “different pricing/price points” for the hardware itself. 

RBC Capital surveys the crowded landscape of iPhone’s upstart competitors

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Android G2: HTC Magic Hands ON from Gizmodo on Vimeo.

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Allot of buzz today about HTC plans to announce a new Touchscreen iPhone competitor running Android/Linux some time this year.

HTC is the manufacturer of the T-Mobile G1 which runs Android (that I had a chance to spend some time with) and the Apple iPhone and the new Palm Pre, according to an exclusive report by Smarthouse.

According to Smarthouse, the new HTC touchscreen phone has been developed using Google Android and a Linux-based software developed by HTC itself. In the Smarthouse report the Telestra executives also called the device “better and more functional” than webOS running on the new Palm Pre

“We have seen both and we believe that the new HTC phone will be a real competitor to the iPhone and the Pre which at this stage looks nice but is still not delivered to market,” Smarthouse reports the unnamed executives saying.”

HTC’s new phone is expected in the second quarter of 2009. Will this be the G2? HTC has the potential to make some really nice hardware, lets hope it has atleast multitouch, the option of an on screen potrait and landscape keyboard as we all know HTC loves some slide out qwerty’s. Let’s see where this all goes.

[via ZDNet]

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First thoughts, it’s smaller than I thought, but bigger than I think I am comfortable with. Even with the physical keyboard, typing is a bit weird. The screen is nice and bright and everything in the OS is really nice. Android really works well. I have gotten EDGE and everything else working and signed in via my Google Account (and it said that it has added this phone to my Google account - gulp - I hope I can switch it back to Edwards Google account, as he was so nice to lend this to me for us to check out).

Anyway, check out the photos and check back soon for some more video and more hands on. So far I really like the OS and would definitely buy an Android phone in the future, once it’s got better hardware to go along with it.

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