This might surprise some of you, but the Google’s latest Android version Ice Cream Sandwich shipped first with the Samsung Galaxy Nexus does not have Adobe Flash pre-installed. And apparently the same isn’t even available for download from the Android market either.
As per Google, Flash will be made available on ICS only once Adobe upgrades the same for the Android version 4.0. Till then ICS will be without any Flash support as you do not have the option to even download any earlier versions of the Flash player. Flash compatibility has been a major attraction for folks looking to buy Android smartphones or tablets, making it a key feature differentiating the platform from Apple’s iOS.
So does that mean end of the road for Flash on Android? Not really, as per a comment made by Google which states that:
“Flash hasn’t been released for ICS yet so as far as we know, Adobe will support Flash for ICS.”
Hence you can safely assume that Flash support on ICS will be made available sooner or later. Though, we must admit that Steve Jobs’ prediction for Flash on smartphones has indeed turned out to be true. After Adobe themselves accepted that HTML5 is a better option than Flash on the mobile platform we can say that the days of the Flash on mobiles is limited. The guys over at Cupertino are sure laughing out loud!
