Cool Macromedia Flash Player for Pocket PC for only ... $499!?
I am sitting here hitting my head against the wall. Literally. In a move that no one on the planet can understand Macromedia has stopped providing the free Flash Player for Pocket PC and replaced it with a paid stand alone program that costs $499. I’m not kidding, they expect Pocket PC owners to pay more for a flash player than they probably paid for their device. Here’s the details from the Macromedia web site:
As of October 3, 2005 Flash Player 6 for Pocket PC download will no longer be available.
Does this change mean Macromedia will no longer support the Pocket PC platform? No. You may still purchase a bundled device or you can go to the Macromedia Online Store to purchase Standalone Flash Player 6 for Pocket PC.
Here’s a graphic from the Online Store so you can see for yourself:
(via PPC Thoughts)
I'm with you on this one. I just don't undertsand why they would do this. Why limit the flashplayers adoption?
Makes no sense at all.
Posted by: Aaron | October 04, 2005 at 11:36 AM
Idiots... *sigh*
Posted by: Josh Bancroft | October 04, 2005 at 12:56 PM
The change to the license was mentioned a couple months ago, but not the new price point. The issue seems to be set top boxes which are apparently based on the same Windows CE core that Pocket PCs are based upon. In order to cash in on the set top market they had to stick it to the Pocket PC market (unless you can get a Pocket PC with the Flash bundle...)
Posted by: Scotty | October 04, 2005 at 02:04 PM
For what it's worth, the "why" of it is sort of complex, because of the various partnerships, from what I understand... I think Bill Perry may have more info up on it soon, and I'd defer to him for the best word.
But here's a key point: No consumer should ever have to install something onto their pocket device. It's more work than with a computer. Having an installable version for developer use is just a stop-gap measure... the goal is to have SWF rendering be a key feature of any new shipping device. We're not there yet, obviously, but the progress towards that goal is strong.... ;-)
More solid info as soon as possible, promise.
jd/mm
Posted by: John Dowdell | October 04, 2005 at 02:21 PM
I guess that's not a typo then? It's not really $4.99, but close to five hundreds?
Amazing.
The one thing I always envied PPC having was that Flash ability.
(OTOH, I never did actually get the player or *use* it on the now-dead GENIO... go figure.)
Posted by: Mike Cane | October 04, 2005 at 06:03 PM
No typo- that's why I used the screen capture from their site.
Posted by: jk | October 04, 2005 at 07:19 PM
Too bad, I guess I'll stick with the free Flash Player that they released last year.
Posted by: VictorE | October 05, 2005 at 01:28 AM
Wow, I just checked the price in their UK store: £329 - this works out at $582.17!
Posted by: larryni | October 06, 2005 at 06:23 AM
The world's gone mad.
Posted by: Davey A | October 06, 2005 at 12:15 PM
Update: Bill Perry has a group-approved message here:
http://www.macromedia.com/devnet/devices/articles/fp6_pocketpc_removal.html
There's also a feedback link at the bottom of the document, if issues remain, clarifications needed. (I don't feel qualified to extemporize further on the story myself.)
Good...?
jd/mm
Posted by: John Dowdell | October 07, 2005 at 02:41 PM
Just a note of clarification, Macromedia is not replacing the free PPC player with a cost of $499. The Flash plug-in for Pocket Internet Explorer is going away. What you get for $499, is the ability to take your Flash application for Pocket PC and save it out as a self-running EXE. Meaning, the device does not need the plug-in installed.
If you think about it, this makes sense. It's much easier to work with the OEMs on the SWF format running on the device and having more information about the device. With the new features of Pocket PC (VGA, etc...) the plug-in would be hard to continue to evolve constantly. It would require a lot of engineering resources I am guessing. However, providing developers a compiler for the platform is a much better use of resources if you ask me.
So Flash for Pocket PC is not dead. The plug-in to Pocket PC is just no longer supported.
Hope that clears up any confusion,
-- Mike
Posted by: Mike Krisher | October 11, 2005 at 02:44 PM
Mike, you are technically correct but it means that if the OEM of your device does not preinstall Flash in the ROM then you are out of luck. It will affect a lot of people, potentially.
Posted by: jk | October 11, 2005 at 03:19 PM
This is what happened with Jeode in the PocketPC a few years ago.
Jeode stopped supplying the PPC JVM (Java) in PocketPC2002.
Depending on the device, Windows Mobile may or may not have Java support.
Unfortunately, for WM devices the iPAQ 5550 came with Jeode while the iPAQ 2215 did not (so no Java).
Flash appears to be goind down the same path.
Posted by: fil | October 11, 2005 at 04:25 PM
Update: We've figured out a middle path -- those uncertified PocketPC systems can still do a free download of the 2003 Player, but we won't be able to provide any support for such systems. Bill Perry has more details here:
http://www.macromedia.com/devnet/devices/articles/fp6_pocketpc_removal.html
http://www.flashdevices.net/2005/10/we-listened-flash-player-6-for-pocket.html
I'm sorry for the hassle last week, but does this now seem like a better situation to you...?
jd/mm
Posted by: John Dowdell | October 12, 2005 at 02:50 PM
Clearly this shows that keeping up with the hundreds of different mobile devices is not trivial for any company trying to get a player or an application to run on mobile.
Posted by: Wayne | October 13, 2005 at 09:14 AM