The first full Flash player for mobile devices has been revealed by Adobe.

While smartphones have had Flash players on them before now, they have used a stripped-down Flash Lite player version. But now Adobe is preparing for mobile devices to have full Flash functionality in the following months, as part of its drive to “reach users wherever they are”.

The aim is to bring the Flash Player 10.1 to Windows Mobile and Palm WebOS devices before the end of 2009. Support for Symbian S60 and Google’s Android will come during the early part of 2010. There will also be a BlackBerry version due to Adobe having signed a deal with RIM.

The only OS smartphone not to gain the Flash upgrade - though that could change in the future – is Apple’s iPhone OS, which was not mentioned at all in the announcement. But Adobe isn’t fully giving Apple the cold shoulder, having said it is trying to persuade the company to include support for Flash on the iPhone.

The fully-featured Flash player should ensure that mobile devices get “uncompromised web browsing of expressive applications, content and high definition (HD) video” according to Adobe. The software will use the devices GPU to help accelerate graphics performance, with the company even claiming it won’t make a huge difference on battery life.

Support for multitouch, gesture controls and accelerometers will be included, thus avoiding mobile users from having to deal with desktop-like interfaces when using web applications, for instance.

Netbooks and Standard PCs will also be receiving the Flash Player 10.1, thanks to the Adobe’s Open Screen Project, which aims to achieve a consistent experience across different devices.

[Thanks: http://www.mobilemarketingnews.co.uk]