Increasingly, as people integrate RIAs into their daily lives, the living room will be a fertile ground for deploying those applications. Right now, Microsoft seems to have the living room locked up. Xbox is the only next generation console out right now, and Xbox Live is a fantastic service. Flash can run on phones, and even the Play Station Portable, but their living room penetration is lacking.
I had a chance to talk with Parimal Deshpande, the senior product manager for Windows Presentation Foundation and Microsoft User Experience which gave me a ton of insight into what Microsoft's RIA strategy is. I have a write-up coming, but I came away very impressed. One of the things that struck me was how well Microsoft is using their size and depth to empower developers building RIAs. What they lack in cross platform they make up in the huge number of Microsoft products that fit into the strategy. Everything from the Xbox, to Smart Phones, to Windows Live and Office.
Increasingly, as people integrate RIAs into their daily lives, the living room will be a fertile ground for deploying those applications. Right now, Microsoft seems to have the living room locked up. Xbox is the only next generation console out right now, and Xbox Live is a fantastic service. Flash can run on phones, and even the Play Station Portable, but their living room penetration is lacking.
Sony has taken a lot of flack lately, most notably for the RootKit issue. Within the tech world, they are starting to seem like a much less cool Darth Vader. But despite that, a partnership with Sony to put Flash on their devices would be a big help for Adobe. The recent Mylo announcement shows that Sony is thinking in the right direction and Flash on the PS3 would give Flash developers a great platform for RIAs in the living room. Sony is a big company, and I can't even imagine what the cost or particulars of a deal like this would be, but I think something like it would make sense for both companies. Sony gets a very large developer community that can drive content to their devices, and Adobe gets the Flash player on to those devices - places it traditionally hasn't been able to.
I realize it's a very far fetched idea. It doesn't take into account development costs for putting the player on a new device, or the logistics of what a deal would entail. But Adobe should be looking at ways to put the player in as many new places as possible. With 95/98% penetration on the web, they need to turn to nontraditional markets to grow the platform. They do a lot of that, but one place Microsoft has them beat is the living room. There is a lot of potential there.
