Radley Marx

Will Adobe Release AIR for iPhone at MAX?

In regards to the MAX Conference next week, Adobe seems to be taking an all-or-nothing approach to the iPhone. Either they plan to announce (and promptly release) AIR for the iPhone or they’re deliberately blowing off iPhone users. As things stand now it’s the latter, but there’s clues (and assumptions) that have me wondering if this October miracle might happen…

Clue #1:  it’s almost impossible to find and/or follow the sessions at the conference via the iPhone. Both the Session Catalog and MAX Map exist only as Flash apps. On the iPhone you’ll actually see a generic template filler:

Alternate HTML content should be placed here. This content requires the Adobe Flash Player. Get Flash

Clue #2: Today Adobe released the Adobe MAX Companion – a desktop widget for twittering MAX news and gossip as well as following your MAX schedule (doesn’t work for me) and maps of the conference floors. The size and shape of this widget seems to fit nicely into a smart-phone screen (such as the iPhone).

Clue #3: AIR for Mobile has been in the MAX Session Catalog for the past few months. But recent chatter has revealed surprise and some concern from internal Adobe peeps that AIR for Mobile was made public, as if it was a big secret. AIR for Mobile is a cool advancement but not enough to freak employees out, yet AIR for iPhone certainly qualifies.

Assumption #1: AIR for Mobile will definitely be part of the keynote. As such, I predict that a beta will be released at the conclusion for people to download and use during the remainder of the conference.

Assumption #2: For every Palm Pre user at the conference there will be ten Android users and at least 500 iPhone users. With such a low user ratio, at best a special release of AIR for Mobile release would impress ~50 developers (and  maybe ~500 Blackberry  suits) at MAX, but an AIR for iPhone release would benefit half their audience and amaze everyone.

Assumption #3: It’s hard to imagine that Adobe could be so obstinate as to provide zero support for iPhone users. Most websites at least have some form of HTML backup. Even the Adobe Store, which is entirely Flash (!), has an HTML alternative viewable via the iPhone.

I wish I could say in confidence at this point “I predict Adobe will release AIR for iPhone at MAX this year” but it seems like such a long shot. Nevertheless, it’s worth stirring up the hornets nest for this one.

I’ll be crossing my fingers!!