Adobe extends Flash media support to Apple iOS, iPhone & iPad

The ABC trade show was held recently in Amsterdam. Here, Adobe announced the release of its 4.5 version of the Adobe flash media server and the improved flash access 3.0. The $4,500 media server can stream videos on the flash enabled device. It finds its usage in the iPhone and iPad as well as these devices do not have flash. The transcoding is being done at the server end while the streaming can be done by using the HTTP live streaming on the iOS devices. This server product has four flavors and comes for the different sizes of deployment. A version is also built which can run on the Amazon Web Services cloud platform.

The move did not create any surprises as back in April during the National Association of Broadcasters show Adobe announced that it is planning towards the inclusion of live HTTP streaming into its flash media server that will also be able to have support for iOS. There are limitations however as these products are only capable enough to stream videos and not the flash animations, interactive content or the game on the very modern Safari of the iOS platform.

HTTP live streaming is actually a HTTP based media streaming protocol which is developed by Apple. For complete delivery of the media stream it uses the H.264 video and also uses the mp3 and aac for audio. The protocol is fully compatible with the major Apple devices like iPad, iPhone or the i Pod Touch and can be supported on the mac OS x also by using QuickTime.

The war between Flash and HTML 5 was won by Apple and Adobe knows that even if Steve Jobs is no more there, still Apple is not going to turn flash friendly in their products, so its impossible for now to get flash player on ipod touch, ipad or iphone.

The new product will enable the businesses to deliver the fully adaptive bit-rate experiences to those platforms which support flash and also to the apple devices like iPhone and iPad. Integrated content production has helped to simplify the deployment and reduce the infrastructure cost. The advertising funded online videos can be now streamed endlessly. The online stream packaging helps in preparation and protection of assets ahead of time. The storage costs and complexity involved are reduced and the publishing process is now more simplified for businesses. Thus the businesses can now use a single set of source for the videos which will reach multiple downstream devices.

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Extended support is provided for reaching mobile devices by the Adobe strong traction in video delivery platform, which is built by the flash access 3.0. Hence the content providers can now monetize and deliver the content securely by using the single back-end workflow. This will provide for richer and more engaging experiences which will be delivered to the blu-ray, desktops, connected tv’s, smartphones and tablets.

The android devices which are supported are the Android smartphones, tablets and there are some other mobile devices also which are duly supported. The video programmers can now leverage upon protection, same content delivery and monetization infrastructure for targeting the mobile devices. The release of Adobe Air 3 and Adobe Flash player is to follow suit in future.

The streams being delivered by the new 4.5 servers can be integrated with the iOS applications and are viewable in the mobile Safari also. It is still to be known whether the big video players like the ABC, HBO or HULU are going to simplify their own back end environments for the iOS streaming to make them compatible with the offering of Adobe.

About the author: Rebecca is a blogger by profession. She loves writing on environment and technology. Beside this she is fond of books. She recently bought a book on contemporary design from a fare. These days she is busy in writing an article on cell phone batteries.