When I heard about this, I was filled with two overwhelming (and yet conflicting) emotions. The announcement that Adobe AIR is to support Smartphone platforms (Blackberry and Android for starters), along with support for publishing iPhone applications came as a breath of fresh air in an arena fraught with difficulty and unnecessary repetition of effort. And yet, somehow I found it hard to feel giddy or excited about it.
Don't get me wrong; the idea of being able to design and build an application once, then publish it to numerous devices and mobile platforms without having to re-write a single line of code is music to my ears. It would spell the end of those difficult client meetings, trying to decide which mobile platforms will be shunned because the potential uptake would be insufficient to justify the investment required to redevelop the thing several times over.
This move will open new doors to a generation of Flash developers whose skills have been rendered all but irrelevant in today's CSS-driven Web 2.0 market. Okay, so this could be good or bad; the Flash website was killed by poor user-experience design and amateurish implementation long before Nielsen ever got his claws into it. There's something about a looks-identical-in-all-browsers development tool that draws lazy designers like flies to a steaming turd.
But underlying all of this is a deep rumble than gnaws at my bowels like a tumor. Adobe.
My own experience of Adobe is one of mind-boggling frustration; from their utterly atrocious customer service to their buggy, bloated software. Adobe has helped me earn a good living, I have to admit that much. But they've made me pay for it - in more ways than one!
This has the potential to be a ground-breaking milestone in mobile development, and exactly the kind of unification this platform has desperately needed. But only if it's done properly.
And therein lies my greatest fear. The words "Adobe" and "done properly" rarely, if ever, belong in the same sentence.
Update: It seems that Steve Jobs shared my concerns!
