When developing any mobile application, device environment is a key factor in determining what the app can do, how a developer will write it, and even who will be able use it. Developers need to know the abilities and limitations of each platform, hardware specifications, visual capabilities, interface mechanisms, and on top of all that … the native language in which it must be coded. Can’t it be easier? Adobe thinks so.

ZipCar, for example, has a great mobile app that encourages brand loyalty and helps keep the ZipCar brand present … exclusively for iPhone users. However, there are millions of other mobile device users. Google’s CEO, Eric Schmidt, gave a keynote address at the recent Mobile World Congress, the world’s largest mobile industry exhibition. In his keynote, Schmidt said 60,000 Android devices were shipping daily; and that number is growing. With figures like that becoming more prominent in the mobile world and devices like Motorola’s Droid selling to the tune of 250,000 a week, there’s no argument there’s a market outside of the iPhone.

At MAX, Adobe’s developer conference, last October, it was announced that in the next release of their Creative Suite software, Adobe will incorporate the ability to publish Flash applications as native iPhone apps. At the Mobile World Congress, Adobe reported that AIR, the Adobe platform that allows Flash movies to run as Desktop applications, will soon be available for Android, Blackberry, and potentially more mobile operating systems. Soon the Flash platform I have known and loved for years will become my key tool in developing an app that could span the worlds of Web, Desktop, mobile devices, and more.

I wrote the Flash app above to pull in Silverscape blog entry data via our public RSS feed. Soon (and with minimal changes) this web-based Flash piece could become an easily accessible app for all our mobile devices!

These development technologies will allow us to create engaging applications that reach wider audiences in faster, more efficient ways while still keeping costs low for our clients. Everybody wins!