Adobe Enables Developers To Build Apps For Android, BlackBerry And iOS Devices
Adobe today delivered an update to Adobe® Flash® Builder® 4.5 and Flex 4.5 software to enable developers to build applications for iPhone, iPad and BlackBerry PlayBook. Support for Android devices was released in April 2011. Developers now have a single platform for building highly expressive mobile applications that can be distributed via the Android Market, Apple App Store and BlackBerry App World. Offered standalone or as part of Creative Suite® 5.5 Web Premium and Master Collection, Flash Builder 4.5 enables the creation of applications that work seamlessly across leading mobile device platforms.
“The reaction from developers to the new mobile capabilities in Flash Builder 4.5 and the Flex 4.5 framework has been absolutely fantastic,” said Ed Rowe, vice president of developer tooling, Adobe. “They are amazed by how easy it is to create great mobile apps for Android devices, BlackBerry PlayBook, iPhone and iPad. Companies can now effectively reach their customers no matter what type of device they have.”
Flex 4.5 also includes significant productivity enhancements that allow developers to rapidly build applications for the desktop, Web and top mobile platforms. Using best practice code templates, code completion and code generation features in Flash Builder 4.5, developers can accelerate the creation of Flex and ActionScript® applications and deploy them using Adobe AIR® software, Adobe’s runtime for standalone applications. This allows developers an opportunity to reach more than 80 million Android devices, BlackBerry PlayBooks, iPads and iPhones in the marketplace today. By the end of the year more than 200 million mobile devices are expected to support AIR applications.
Mobile Apps in Action
Many applications built with Flash Builder and Flex have already been published to the Android Market, Apple App Store, and BlackBerry App World. Following are a sample of those created for Android, BlackBerry Tablet OS and iOS using Flash Builder 4.5 and Flex 4.5, leveraging existing code and logic to quickly deploy to leading mobile platforms.
· Conqu is an easy to use yet powerful task management tool designed to help conquer an email inbox and get things done.
· Mr. Mixit is a spin-based matching game where users must frantically mix record labels against the clock.
· Muni Tracker tracks San Francisco Muni locations and arrival time predictions on a map updating live every ten seconds. Favorite transit stops and lines can also be bookmarked for easy access later.
· Netflix Queue Manager lets users browse, search and manage their Netflix Queue on the go. New features include viewing queues, updating queues, and adding/removing/viewing movies.
· PolitiFact Mobile App helps you “find the truth in politics,” with features including the Truth Index, Truth-O-Meter and Flip-O-Meter. PolitiFact.com is the fact-checking website of the St. Petersburg Times and received a Pulitzer Prize in 2009.
· Pyramix is an easy to learn, highly addictive word game that combines the strategy of Cryptoquote with the simplicity of Boggle.
Developer Reaction to Flash Builder 4.5 and the Flex 4.5 Framework
Nahuel Foronda, owner and president, AsFusion
· “We saved a significant amount of development time using Flash Builder 4.5. We used 100 percent of Conqu’s initial codebase and logic to quickly deploy to several mobile platforms, including Android, BlackBerry PlayBook, iPhone, iPad and the Barnes & Noble Nook Color.”
Sean Carey, president, HD Interactive
· “Flash Builder 4.5 allowed us to develop our Mr. Mixit and Pyramix apps and use the same code base to quickly and easily deploy them to multiple platforms. To create an app natively for one platform would have taken at least three times the amount of time—and then we would have had to start from scratch all over again for a native app on the next platform. It’s unbelievable the amount of time we save using Flash Builder 4.5 to build and deploy our apps.”
Bill Adair, editor, Politifact.com
· “PolitiFact’s fact-checking journalism is ideal for a mobile app because it’s backed by solid reporting and presented in a concise, creative way. You don’t have to be a policy wonk to understand the Truth-O-Meter. The app allows us to present our journalism in lively new ways."
Jonathan Campos, founder, UnitedMindset
· “The new mobile application development capabilities in Adobe Flash Builder 4.5 allowed me to create Netflix Queue Manager quickly, and debug the application across a variety of configurations. I can now create, develop, and test mobile and multi-screen apps in one place, ultimately bringing our apps to market faster on multiple devices.”
Pricing and Availability
To download or trial Flash Builder 4.5, please go to www.adobe.com/products/flash-builder.html. Street price $249/£181.20 Flash (ex VAT) Builder 4.5 Standard, $699/£413.00 (ex VAT) for Flash Builder 4.5 Premium. Flash Builder 4.5 Premium is also available as part of the Adobe Creative Suite 5.5 Web Premium and Master Collection. Upgrade pricing for Flash Builder 4.5 is $49.00/£37.16 (ex VAT) and volume licensing is available. Flex 4.5 is available as a free open source framework. Also, Flash Builder 4.5 for PHP today supports mobile application development for Android, BlackBerry Tablet OS and iOS.
Joanne Carter
Joanne Carter, creator of the world’s most popular mobile photography and art website— TheAppWhisperer.com— TheAppWhisperer platform has been a pivotal cyberspace for mobile artists of all abilities to learn about, to explore, to celebrate and to share mobile artworks. Joanne’s compassion, inclusivity, and humility are hallmarks in all that she does, and is particularly evident in the platform she has built. In her words, “We all have the potential to remove ourselves from the centre of any circle and to expand a sphere of compassion outward; to include everyone interested in mobile art, ensuring every artist is within reach”, she has said. Promotion of mobile artists and the art form as a primary medium in today’s art world, has become her life’s focus. She has presented lectures bolstering mobile artists and their art from as far away as the Museum of Art in Seoul, South Korea to closer to her home in the UK at Focus on Imaging. Her experience as a jurist for mobile art competitions includes: Portugal, Canada, US, S Korea, UK and Italy. And her travels pioneering the breadth of mobile art includes key events in: Frankfurt, Naples, Amalfi Coast, Paris, Brazil, London. Pioneering the world’s first mobile art online gallery - TheAppWhispererPrintSales.com has extended her reach even further, shipping from London, UK to clients in the US, Europe and The Far East to a global group of collectors looking for exclusive art to hang in their homes and offices. The online gallery specialises in prints for discerning collectors of unique, previously unseen signed limited edition art. Her journey towards becoming The App Whisperer, includes (but is not limited to) working for a paparazzi photo agency for several years and as a deputy editor for a photo print magazine. Her own freelance photographic journalistic work is also widely acclaimed. She has been published extensively both within the UK and the US in national and international titles. These include The Times, The Sunday Times, The Guardian, Popular Photography & Imaging, dpreview, NikonPro, Which? and more recently with the BBC as a Contributor, Columnist at Vogue Italia and Contributing Editor at LensCulture. Her professional photography has also been widely exhibited throughout Europe, including Italy, Portugal and the UK. She is currently writing several books, all related to mobile art and is always open to requests for new commissions for either writing or photography projects or a combination of both. Please contact her at: [email protected]
