Flash coming to Windows Phone 7 and Symbian, but Apple still says no

Windows Phone 7, BlackBerry, MeeGo and Symbian will all run Adobe Flash Player 10.1 in the future, joining Android and HP's WebOS 2.0 platform. Apple's iOS is now the only major smart phone platform that will not allow it.

Flash 10.1's Windows Phone 7 and Symbian debuts were made official by Adobe at its MAX conference in Los Angeles. No timeline was announced for when each platform is expected to be flashed up.

The software will allow mobile browsers to load websites that use Flash. Many sites use it for navigation, video and Flash-based gaming, meaning they don't currently function properly on a phone.

Mobile owners lucky enough to have Android 2.2 are already enjoying Flash 10.1, with the free app already downloaded 2 million times from the Android Market.

So Apple's iOS will soon be alone in shunning Flash 10.1. Apple grand high muckamuck Steve Jobs has been very clear and very vocal on this: it's never going to happen.

This rejection of Flash has now extended to the desktop, with Apple last week declaring it wouldn't ship Mac computers with Flash pre-installed, Reuters reports. This doesn't mean it's banned, but users will have to download and install it themselves. Apple said it was simply a measure to make sure Mac owners downloaded the most recent version of the software.

"We're happy to continue to support Flash on the Mac and the best way for users to always have the most up to date and secure version is to download it directly from Adobe," Apple spokesman Bill Evans said.

It's a clear signal to Web designers, however, that they should rely less on Flash, or risk future Mac users finding their sites inaccessible. Is the lack of Flash support for your mobile a deal breaker, or do you think Flash is too buggy and Apple has the right idea? Your comments, dear reader, are welcome.