Adobe Working on a MacBook Air-Specific Version of Flash

This is an interesting development.

It appears that Adobe is working on a version of Flash that is optimized for Apple’s 13.3-inch and 11.6-inch MacBook Air series.

Adobe’s Flash platform had been left out of Apple’s new MacBook Air line that was launched a few weeks ago at the end of October. By ditching Flash during web browsing, it was discovered that a few hours of battery life could be added. One reason Apple gave for leaving out Flash was that by forcing customers to download it if they needed it, they would be updated to the latest version of Flash. Usually when a laptop ships, the software is fairly out of date by the time it gets into the hands of customers. This became an issue given the number of security issues that have cropped up with Adobe’s Flash platform. The reality is that this is a tug-of-war that has been going on for quite a while now, going back to Apple’s iPad and iPhone 4, when Apple barred Flash from iOS devices, due to power/CPU and battery performance issues.

Adobe’s CEO responded to Engadget’s question about the issue of Flash on ultraportable devices, saying that Flash performance and battery life comes down to hardware acceleration and that they currently have a beta of Flash that is optimized for the 2010 MacBook Air that they are working on.