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Adobe to deliver Flash for mobile 10.2 next week

A new version of Flash Player for Android devices can take advantage of some hardware acceleration and integrates better with virtual keyboards.

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Android Flash
Screenshot by Jessica Dolcourt/CNET

Adobe Systems, working furiously to disprove Apple Chief Executive Steve Jobs' belief that the Flash Player is a bad match for mobile devices, will deliver its second version of the software for Android devices on March 18.

The software will be available in final form through the Android Market for Android 2.2 (Froyo) and 2.3 (Gingerbread) devices and in beta form for Android 3.0 (Honeycomb) tablets after Google's 3.0.1 system update, Adobe said in a blog post.

However, it's not for any Android device. People can check Adobe's list of Flash-capable Android devices to see if theirs made the cut.

Flash Player runs cross-platform software, notably games, and is widely used to stream video to personal computers. Adobe hopes to extend its cross-platform promise to mobile devices, but it's been hard given the different user interfaces and lesser hardware abilities compared to PCs.

Flash Player 10.2 for mobile brings several changes, though. One is hardware-accelerated video presentation on Honeycomb 3.0.1 devices, something that could help preserve battery power and increase frame rates for smoother video.

The new version also can take advantage of better hardware in some devices with graphics chips and dual-core processors--Motorola's Atrix smartphone and Xoom browser and LG's Optimus 2X, for example.

The new software also is better integrated with the stock Android browser and with screen keyboards, Adobe said.

To keep competitive on the desktop, Adobe also is working on improving Flash with versions 10.3 and 11 under development.