The current state of flash in an HTML 5 future

Currently Flash does not work on Mac iOS which includes iPhones and iPads. Adobe’s solution is its Flash Media Server, which allows your video to be ‘pushed’ through their server technology and work on any device including AIR, Android, and iOS devices with live and on-demand streaming.  You can use a host like Influxis.com or purchase Adobe’s Flash Media Server for $995.00 – $45K depending on your needs. But here’s the conundrum:  Adobe has stopped its support of Flash on mobile devices, and plans to focus on tools that will more easily allow for content creation across platforms.

In contrast, HTML 5 only works on 50% of the current browsers and can take about three times as long to debug.  It’s getting there, but it’s not quite ready yet in comparison to 99% of browsers supporting Flash.  To read more statistics check out the “Flash or HTML 5” post at Periscopic.

It’s been recommended by Jay Yearly of Media Tech Connection that “developers shouldn’t bank their entire skill set on learning only one technology language, regardless of how widely used it is”

What about your next project? The answer lies with your target market.  Designers must base this decision on their audience and take a look at browsers by market share, potential audience, interactive features, SEO, development time, and testing along with additional considerations such as planning for your target market’s current and future technology for approximately two years out.

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