Adobe Launches Flash Platform Services

Adobe Systems has announced the availability of Adobe Flash Platform Services for Distribution, a new service that enables advertisers and content publishers to promote, measure and monetize applications across social networks, desktops and mobile devices.

Adobe Flash Platform Services are online, hosted services that allow developers to add innovative capabilities to Web applications with a predictable, cost-efficient deployment model, said Adrian Ludwig, group manager for the Flash Platform at Adobe. Developers, advertisers and publishers are now using Adobe Flash Platform Services to make Web applications sharable, social and collaborative, he said.

"What we are doing is announcing the first of a series of platform services for the Flash Platform," Ludwig said. "This service makes it easy for developers to make their applications and Flash-based content sharable."

With the growth of social media, advertisers and publishers are looking to more predictable and effective methods to reach audiences via social media, Adobe said. There are many benefits to using sharable, social applications to connect with customers; however, it can be difficult to get users to install the applications. Additionally, advertisers, publishers and game developers use distribution methods that don’t support all popular destinations and can be difficult to maintain. Many times, simply posting applications in an app store is the mobile distribution strategy. Yet, rarely is an overall distribution strategy unified across the Web and mobile, making comprehensive analytics difficult to obtain, the company said.

“We’re adding extensions that allow developers to add sharing capabilities to their applications, and they can deliver the apps to a vast number of different environments,” Ludwig said.

“Our customers rely on the Adobe Flash Platform to make rich and compelling applications that work across operating systems and screens,” said David Wadhwani, general manager and vice president at Adobe, in a statement. “The new services from Adobe allow Flash Platform developers, advertisers, game makers and other content publishers to connect with an even larger audience more effectively, and grow revenue opportunities.”

Adobe's new distribution service helps solve these challenges. Adobe is partnering with Gigya, a social media authentication and distribution platform, to provide advertisers, publishers and game makers with a comprehensive distribution solution. The solution includes a unified management tool to effectively promote, measure and monetize Web applications and games. This capability also is why Adobe is seeking to close its recently announced deal to acquire Omniture, which provides similar analytics services to Gigya.

The new Adobe service allows for viral distribution by making applications sharable. Flash and other Web applications can be distributed to most Web, desktop and mobile platforms. The sharing feature is easily implemented, enabling users to share applications with a single click on social networking sites, on the desktop and mobile platforms.