Flash on Opera Mobile?

October 8, 2010 · by Aleksander Aas

Yesterday Opera released news about Opera Mobile and Adobe Flash. Opera joined something called the Open Screen Project. The Open Screen project is a cooperation between a lot of companies working together to bring Adobe Flash to cross-platform devices.

For now there are no launch dates or products being announced that will support Flash, but this is an official statement saying Opera is working on Flash support for Opera Mobile. In the beginning this will be a joint effort together with phone manufacturers, so no news on what devices will have this support yet.

This does not affect Opera Mini as of now, but we would love to see what you think about Flash in Opera Mobile or Flash in general in the comments below.

Readers' comments 50

Left under the original article, as archived.

TamilFriday, October 8, 2010 2:34:56 PM
Martin KadlecFriday, October 8, 2010 2:49:10 PM
There should be placeholder instead of flash by default, but it would be definitely nice to have the support for flash in Opera Mobile. I just hope that Opera Mobile won't start much more crash because of flash like Opera Desktop.
NicoFriday, October 8, 2010 2:51:37 PM
I don't think that Flash on mobile devices is necessary. At least not on Smartphones. In addition, Flash is designed for mouse and keyboard and not touch input.
Martin KadlecFriday, October 8, 2010 2:56:09 PM
Originally posted by HellbillyDeluxe:

I don't think that Flash on mobile devices is necessary. At least not on Smartphones. In addition, Flash is designed for mouse and keyboard and not touch input.

Flash already supports touch events =)
CoyoteeFriday, October 8, 2010 3:01:23 PM
"Please download the latest version of Flash."
Mağruf ÇolakoğluFriday, October 8, 2010 3:22:44 PM
Great news, no need flash anymore...Mobile+Mini are now leader of mobile market and wlth this new support wlll bw fix the position on top next many years.
Another point of view that for example , I know from turkish market, lots of people needs flash or similer version support on their devices. If it supports by Minl ln future, really will be big step...
We wait good news from you...
Thanks.
Fabio LambertiniFriday, October 8, 2010 3:54:50 PM
NicoFriday, October 8, 2010 4:00:38 PM
Originally posted by BS-Harou:

Originally posted by HellbillyDeluxe:

I don't think that Flash on mobile devices is necessary. At least not on Smartphones. In addition, Flash is designed for mouse and keyboard and not touch input.
Flash already supports touch events =)
I didn't knew that, thank you for clarifying!
Charles SchlossFriday, October 8, 2010 4:56:48 PM
AvolaFriday, October 8, 2010 5:12:19 PM
I just hope it won't slow down the browsing experience in any way.
dirkFriday, October 8, 2010 5:18:32 PM
Sami SerolaFriday, October 8, 2010 5:22:53 PM
This does not affect Opera Mini as of now...

I guess there should be 'mobile' on that sentence, not mini
Jσδμξ_181Friday, October 8, 2010 5:27:37 PM
Me parece interesante ya que Skyfire dejo de funcionar fuera de EE.UU y era el único que funcionaba bien con flash.
Godwin AikhomunFriday, October 8, 2010 6:19:13 PM
hope it supports pocket pc 2003 SE...
d4rkn1ghtFriday, October 8, 2010 6:22:49 PM
Dark FurieFriday, October 8, 2010 7:18:26 PM
Couldn't give a flying one, to be honest. Flash is far from my highest mobile web priority compared to things like being able to access my other search bars without having to change to the Opera keyboard.
Rafael LuikFriday, October 8, 2010 7:27:34 PM
Originally posted by Furie:

Flash is far from my highest mobile web priority compared to things like being able to access my other search bars without having to change to the Opera keyboard.
Or having the ability to change the default search engine for example...

Well, the more technologies you can support in the web browser without performance lose / option to disable it, the better the web browser will be.
HENRY OTENGFriday, October 8, 2010 9:35:13 PM
IT'S VERY GOOD BRINGING THAT ADOBE FLASH
Artur „Jurgi” JurgawkaFriday, October 8, 2010 9:56:27 PM
I do not use internet on mobiles, but when I start, it would be nice to have flash, too.
techlawsamFriday, October 8, 2010 10:13:29 PM
yes! Finally! I would love to see Flash on Opera Mobile and eventually see a public availability on the android market! That way I can use Opera Mobile as my only main browser since it has turbo compression and "true" full web capabilities..Flash on Opera Mini would be pretty sweet too...
SejiFriday, October 8, 2010 10:32:10 PM
No Flash for me. Unless there will be an ad blocker. ;)

Let's drop Flash and move to provide HTML5 support for mobile browsers.
Cutting SpoonFriday, October 8, 2010 11:52:51 PM
If nothing else, Flash support would fix a number of annoying website interfaces. Banks and airlines use the messiest of software. I should be most fascinated if Mini had a micro-transcoder on the server, that could somehow manipulate flash-based menus.
techlawsamSaturday, October 9, 2010 12:38:16 AM
@Seji HTML5 is good and all but it still needs more development and not many of the sites visited listed on alexa rank have adopted it opera needs to needs to also support the cutting edge web tech also with the bleeding edge. So they don't shoot themselves in the foot
Dustin WilsonSaturday, October 9, 2010 12:42:44 AM
I'd prefer to have a Web without Flash, actually. Adobe can't make Flash work properly on desktop machines. How can they get it working on mobiles with much less computing power? The only platform Flash works even remotely well is Windows. If anyone can get Flash working on mobiles it's Opera, but why waste the time doing another corporation's work for them? That's all it is; they can't get it right now, so they want someone else to do it for them. The best thing for the Web would be for Flash to die and hard.

Two things to block for internet bliss (try it if you don't believe me). Block Flash and Facebook. You'll love the Web again. Opera blocks both very well.

There's nothing open when a closed platform controlled by only one company is being used.
tomassplatchSaturday, October 9, 2010 3:19:25 AM
quite a surprising move given opera's attitude towards flash. I don't want no flash on my mobile, i was hoping apple and opera mini not purporting it would eventually limit it's use and we would shift to html5. I guess we have to be realist: that time has not come... yet.
Charles SchlossSaturday, October 9, 2010 3:59:48 AM
Originally posted by Khadgar:

I'd prefer to have a Web without Flash, actually.

+1

Originally posted by Khadgar:

The only platform Flash works even remotely well is Windows.

http://files.myopera.com/Tamil/Smilies/Yes.gif -
Why do you think Apple did not want flash on the iPhone
ahmied salimSaturday, October 9, 2010 7:00:50 AM
that is very nice and mobile will be like pc. Thank you opera team thank you very much but if you can but flash in opera mini it will very fantastic.
Çağlar YeşilyurtSaturday, October 9, 2010 7:08:05 AM
Yehuu!
Juwel ranaSaturday, October 9, 2010 7:47:12 AM
@Nico, u totally bullshit.opera mobile without flash support like uncomplete.plzzzzzzzz give us flash support opera mobile. So that i can use it on my nokia 5320 xpressmusic
sunnytang10Saturday, October 9, 2010 9:47:28 AM
That's welcome news for people who have smartphones with browsers which the latest version of Flash does not support. It's definitely a step forward for Opera.
Daniel HendrycksSaturday, October 9, 2010 10:19:53 AM

Originally posted by Charles Schloss:

Why do you think Apple did not want flash on the iPhone

I thought it was because they wanted us to use the terrible quicktime.
sunnytang10Saturday, October 9, 2010 10:58:08 AM
You made me laugh, Daniel, but you're probably right
Charles SchlossSaturday, October 9, 2010 4:44:29 PM
Originally posted by DanielHendrycks:

I thought it was because they wanted us to use the terrible quicktime.

Flash is not stable at all on Mac, so flash on their mobile device would make a crashy phone, plus flash is one of the most attacked plug ins now a days

I do agree with Dustin

Also most of the recent flash player security bugs have been remote code bugs
Cutting SpoonSaturday, October 9, 2010 9:28:36 PM
Sounds to me like Opera is contemplating some low-level flashlite-type support. At least enough to make tons of crappy websites work on mobile. Many do not have a fallback if you can't view their plugin-based UI.
nightweelsSaturday, October 9, 2010 10:06:46 PM
hope its will be in symbian s60 smartphones! and integrates HTML5 videos if possible.
Daniel HendrycksSunday, October 10, 2010 3:32:33 AM
Originally posted by Charles Schloss:

I do agree with Dustin

*headnod*
Maybe when they show off Flash for Opera Mobile when it is ready, people will be able to play video and audio w/o Flash, too (via HTML5).
edtoyzSunday, October 10, 2010 12:51:33 PM
It would be great!
HokkutMonday, October 11, 2010 6:23:29 AM
cool
prd3Monday, October 11, 2010 8:20:29 AM
Originally posted by tomassplatch:

quite a surprising move given opera's attitude towards flash

Huh?

Opera's attitude towards Flash has always been pragmatic. It exists, so they have to deal with it as long as it does.
MaxFraggMonday, October 11, 2010 9:24:27 AM
still wait for Opera Mobile for Android
nickd777Monday, October 11, 2010 9:46:38 AM
Opera your a little behind, I know of 2 mobile browsers that already support flash so what multi company endeavor huge project adventure your talking about has already been done, just pay the cash for the blueprint, not to mention opera itself has already been tweeked in communities to support flash by amateur developers.
prd3Monday, October 11, 2010 10:21:27 AM
Originally posted by nickd777:

I know of 2 mobile browsers that already support flash

WRONG. You do not.

just pay the cash for the blueprint

Why don't YOU pay the cash if it's so easy?

not to mention opera itself has already been tweeked in communities to support flash by amateur developers

So Opera should violate the law?

FAIL.
sunnytang10Monday, October 11, 2010 11:04:57 AM
It will definitely bring smiles to millions of Symbian S60 mobile phone owners around the world and tremendously increase the number of people who download and use Opera as their mobile browser.
Aleksander AasMonday, October 11, 2010 12:45:20 PM
It's interesting to see your comments. Personally I'm not missing flash, but I'd like to have a better fallback than most sites provide today. This should be a focus for developers though. At least in my mind.

Originally posted by serola:

I guess there should be 'mobile' on that sentence, not mini

Nope
Ferhad FidanTuesday, October 12, 2010 12:46:30 PM
On WinMo after installing Flash plugin you can use most of the flash content. I think it must bea as easy as copying plugin files to some Opera folder and registering them in some way. Ok, maybe it's not so easy, there are many different platforms...
Cutting SpoonTuesday, October 12, 2010 9:38:30 PM
To keep the core lean, Opera has been hesitant to deal with lots of extra gunk being put into it. However on Windows Mobile, Opera was able to use systemwide plugins to good effect. I have heard that better media integration should be possible on Android and iOS for certain, possibly on S60 in similar fashion. It's all a matter of API integration and adequate resource management. On-Demand Plugins would be killer great though.
Charles SchlossWednesday, October 13, 2010 5:50:16 AM
Also if possible it might be a very good idea to put flash player in a sandbox, it is a big target for hackers right now
Raju BitterThursday, October 14, 2010 12:00:21 PM
That's great! Can't wait to test the new browser, with support for Flash. Based on the tests I've done for the http://www.mobileopenlaszlo.org project, there's much better support for gestures in Flash/AIR than the support for gestures in the native Android browser. Animations are much more fluid as well. But maybe the hardware acceleration in Opera Mobile will make JS based animation perform equally well.
Pierre-Alain CotnoirFriday, October 15, 2010 2:03:38 PM
It would be great. 75% of video content is available throught Flash. Mobile need it, particularly iPhone...
Charles SchlossFriday, October 15, 2010 3:29:33 PM
Originally posted by pacotnoir:

It would be great. 75% of video content is available throught Flash. Mobile need it, particularly iPhone...

Tho it would make a target for hackers, and flash is a long ways from iPhone, since Adobe can't seem to even fix it on the desktop OS from Apple (Apple does not want a crash and cpu intensive process)