Adobe promises Flash for Android Ice Cream Sandwich

The mobile version of Flash will get one last outing on the Android platform before it is discontinued, Adobe has said.

The company said Android 4.0, or Ice Cream Sandwich, would get a version of Flash by the end of the year, according to a Pocket-lint report on Monday. That will be the last time Adobe releases any iteration of Flash for mobile, although it has promised to release critical bug fixes and security updates.

"Adobe will release one more version of the Flash Player for mobile browsing, which will provide support for Android 4.0, and one more release of the Flash Linux Porting Kit — both expected to be released before the end of this year," Pocket-lint reported Adobe's spokesperson as saying.

The first Ice Cream Sandwich phone has already come out in the shape of the Galaxy Nexus. Unlike most other Android phones on the market, this flagship device does not come with pre-installed Flash as the compatible version has not yet been released.

Adobe said earlier this month that it would be discontinuing the Flash plug-in for mobile browsers, although developers will still be able to distribute Flash-built apps in the self-contained AIR wrapper.

As Adobe made clear a few days later, its decision was partly based on Apple's consistent refusal to support the Flash plug-in in its iPhone and iPad browser. Adobe said it would instead concentrate on HTML5, which Apple and most other mobile OS companies have been enthusiastically promoting.