Adobe releases Flash, AIR betas; Gauging the potential of multi-touch on the desktop

Adobe on Tuesday released the beta versions of its AIR 2 and Flash Player 10.1 software and the company includes multi-touch support to "bring innovations and optimizations from mobile devices to the desktop."

Most of the multi-touch talk around Adobe revolves around future mobile support (statement). However, multi-touch has a role on the desktop too. For instance, HP on Monday announced a software development program for its TouchSmart PCs and digital signage displays. HP launched a developer portal and development kit to create things like touch enabled Netflix and Hulu.

The big question: If companies like Adobe and HP build multi-touch support for the desktop will the applications come?

Thinking out loud you could see a bevy of possibilities. Perhaps apps are built for the desktop so information is pushed to you (the revenge of PointCast anyone?) Or the multi-touch support just means we ultimately do away with the mouse in select Rich Internet Applications (RIA). And then there are a lot of commercial applications.

Adobe's platform is appealing, but it's in a race to stay ahead of advances in HTML. Multi-touch support could keep it ahead of the race, but we'll see how things play out on the desktop.