Adobe announces Flash player for phones

Adobe has announced a version of Flash Player which will work on many smartphones as well as Desktop PCs.

Flash is commonly used to show animations and video content on websites such as YouTube, and a beta of version 10.1 will be available for Windows Mobile and Palm's webOS later this year.

Flash Player 10.1 beta for Windows, Mac and Linux operating systems will be available at the same time, while versions for Google Android and Symbian will be issued in early 2010.

However, there won't be a version of Flash Player 10.1 for the Apple iPhone.

"With Flash Player moving to new mobile platforms, users will be able to experience virtually all Flash technology-based web content and applications wherever they are," said David Wadhwani, general manager and vice president, Platform Business Unit at Adobe.

Flash technology is used to deliver around 75 per cent of all online video, Adobe said.