First Adobe Media Player Beta on Tap

Adobe officials look to enter a market dominated by the likes of Microsoft.

BOSTON—For Adobe Systems, the European Court of First Instances rejection of Microsofts appeal of its penalty for an antitrust violation could not have come at a better time.

At the Flashforward conference for developers and designers of Adobes Flash technology here Sept. 19, an Adobe product manager gave a "sneak peek" at the companys upcoming Adobe Media Player technology, the type of technology the EU ruling against Microsoft was intended to provide with a level playing field.

Mike Chambers, principal product manager for developer relations at Adobe, gave a presentation about the bus tour the San Jose, Calif., company is conducting to promote its Adobe Integrated Runtime, or AIR, technology and gave attendees a look at video content from the 18-city Adobe "on AIR Bus Tour," which has already been through 14 cities. Chambers showed the content using the AIR-based Adobe Media Player.

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Read more here about Adobes AIR.

Microsoft, of Redmond, Wash., holds the leading share of media players installed worldwide, with RealNetworks following behind and Apple working its way up in the running, according to market research firm estimates. With an entry in the market that could tap the popularity of its Flash platform, Adobe would have nowhere to go but up.

In addition, the company has been establishing relationships with partners that could become part of an Adobe Media Player ecosystem.

At the National Association of Broadcasters conference in Las Vegas in April, Adobe announced plans to deliver its media player. At the event, the company said it would deliver a beta of the Adobe Media Player this fall, with a full version of the technology expected in the first quarter of 2008 from Adobe and a wide range of media and technology partners.

Adobes own user conference, known as Adobe Max, is slated for Sept. 30 through Oct. 1 in Chicago, and more details on the Adobe Media Player are expected there.

Delivered as a lightweight download, Adobe Media Player delivers innovation for both viewers and content owners. For viewers, Adobe Media Player enables higher quality Flash format playback, the ability to download and view videos offline, ways to discover interesting new shows, full-screen playback, one-click viewer ratings, and a "favorites" feature that automatically downloads new episodes of favorite TV shows or video podcasts, Adobe officials said at the NAB announcement.

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