With Mobile Flash Dead, Will This Startup Thrive or Suffer the Same Fate?
So we all know now that Flash for mobile is dead. Aside from a few diehards, everyone knew this was inevitable. After all, who wouldn't gravitate to a sleek standard like HTML5 instead of Adobe's bloatware?
Of course, adoption is never universally instant. To early adopters, Flash ceased to exist a year ago. But to many digital advertisers and game developers, HTML5 makes them scratch their head: "Is that, like, Flash or something?"
One bootstrapped Toronto startup by the name of Animated Media launched at the end of 2008 with technology, dubbed the VGK Platform, that enabled Flash content to be displayed natively on mobile devices with "ultra-fast performance and advanced features for mobile apps"—things that "you aren’t able to do with Adobe’s products."
Back in 2008, when the Apple and Google were just beginning the global ascent of mass-mobile popularity, a startup based on Flash for mobile was a feasible idea—a good one even. But with Adobe effectively taking the axe to its own longstanding product, where does this leave Animated Media and brethren?
In AM's case, it's actually getting an immediate boost in business. The startup says companies are asking it how they can preserve their investments in Flash content and still make their content usable on smartphones and ereaders and kin. So Animated Media, for one, is able to benefit from Flash's death—for now.
A year in, what will the case be? AM argues that Flash ads and games are "pervasive" and "won't change anytime soon." But of course a company in the business of mobile Flash is going to defend mobile Flash's future importance. However, ask anyone familiar with HTML5, and they'd laugh at the notion.
Considering many enterprises still use Windows XP and Internet Explorer (I don't know how they manage to recruit new talent, but that's another story), Flash will indeed linger for a while yet—the book is far from closed. But its official death does mean the future potential for its application is limited and will grow smaller by the day. Animated Media and kin may be better off for the time being, but eventually, they'll have to expand their services or pivot.
What do you think the future of Flash versus HTML5 is?
