Adobe Flash Format Comes To TV, Set Top Boxes

Software powerhouse Adobe is planning to take over your lounge by bringing its ubiquitous multimedia platform, Flash, to televisions, set-top boxes, optical players and every major content distribution device.

Adobe is already dominating the desktop environment, where Microsoft's Silverlight has been trying to break its stranglehold for a couple of years already. It said to be installed on almost 98 percent of all computers (ed: probably desktop ones, certainly not servers).

Ditto on the mobile front where only Apple's iPhone is reluctant to adopt the defacto standard for content distribution. An estimated 1 billion mobile phones currently have Flash lite installed with that number expected to double by next year.

The company is planning to work with a number of hardware and services vendors to implement Flash support natively in hardware. Intel, STMicroelectronics,  NXP Semiconductors and Sigma Designs are amongst the big brand names on the list.

It has also lined up a number of content partners - at least in the US to provide with enough material to start up with. You'll find household names like Comcast, Disney, Netflix and The New York Times Company in this all star setup. Ultimately, Adobe's ambition for Flash is to bypass the need for a PC completely, just like TiVO or Netflix.

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Our Comments
Adobe's announcement that it will be coming to a screen near you soon is a clear message to the software company's competitors especially Microsoft. We're only starting. Flash is probably the most popular piece of software ever installed in the world with at least 2 billion devices at any time.

Related Links
Adobe Flash for Your TV Means Hulu in Your Living Room
http://blog.wired.com/gadgets/2009/04/adobe-flash-for.html

Adobe ports Flash to TVs and set top boxes
http://www.techspot.com/news/34352-adobe-ports-flash-to-tvs-and-set-top-boxes.html

New TVs may make Flash the MP3 of digital video
http://www.thestandard.com/news/2009/04/20/flash-equipped-tv-sets-coming-later-year

Flash Comes to the Living Room
http://www.readwriteweb.com/archives/flash_comes_to_the_living_room.php

Flash Coming Soon to a TV Near You
http://www.internetnews.com/dev-news/article.php/3816261/Flash+Coming+Soon+to+a+TV+Near+You.htm

Adobe To Move Flash Into Digital TVs
http://www.informationweek.com/news/personal_tech/TV_theater/showArticle.jhtml?articleID=216900192&subSection=All+Stories

Adobe extends Flash to TVs, Blu-ray players
http://www.msnbc.msn.com/id/30307004/

New TVs may make Flash the MP3 of digital video
http://www.thestandard.com/news/2009/04/20/flash-equipped-tv-sets-coming-later-year