Submitted by Bob Bhatnagar on
There are over two million developers using Adobe Flash, and soon they will be able to convert their applications into iPhone apps automatically. Adobe is adding "Packager for iPhone" to its Flash developer tools.
Included in Flash Professional CS5 (Creative Suite 5), the software is currently in private beta testing. The iPhone does not support Flash, however ActionScript 3 projects will run as native iPhone apps after conversion.
Several iPhone apps that have been developed using ActionScript 3 are currently available on the Apple App Store. New code can be written or existing web content can be repackaged as an iPhone app.
According to Adobe, the Adobe Flash Player 10 software is "not allowed" on the iPhone at this time. Adobe has been working to address the concerns of mobile device manufacturers, and Flash is currently supported in Android OS.
TechCrunch speculates that Apple delayed the approval of Flash to insure its own iPhone SDK (Software Development Kit) gained traction before a competing development platform came on the scene. There are 125,000 registered iPhone developers.