PackagerForIphone
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Adobe's Packager to be updated for iPad support
Adobe is reportedly working to update its Packager for iPhone and will launch it in a new version of the popular Adobe Creative Suite bundle. Packager for iPhone is a utility included in Adobe Flash Professional CS5 and the Adobe AIR SDK that lets developers export their Flash-based applications to the iOS platform. The updated version of Packager for iPhone is rumored to include improved support for the iPad as well as new Android devices. The tool will also improve touch support by including additional gestures such as pinch to zoom. Adobe's Packager for iPhone was bundled into Creative Suite 5, but its development was abandoned when Apple banned the use of third-party development tools before the launch of iOS 4. When Apple reversed this decision several months later, Adobe kicked up the pace of development to improve this application for their Flash developers. According to AppleInsider, Adobe will release this updated tool in an interim version of Adobe Creative Suite that will land before Version 6.0. The version has been referred to internally as Adobe Creative Suite 5.5 Digital Publishing. Screenshots of Adobe Flash Professional CS 5.5 have been spotted, and the application is reportedly under beta testing. Information on a potential launch date is still unknown. [Via AppleInsider and 9to5Mac]
Adobe halts investment in iPhone-specific Flash dev tools, has another dig at Apple (update: Apple responds)
Color us unsurprised, but it's still notable to hear that Adobe is stopping investment in its software's capability to port content over to iPhone OS. The company's great hope on this front, Packager for iPhone, will still ship as part of Flash CS5 as planned, but beyond that Adobe is essentially giving up on Apple's mobile OS until further notice. In spite of being repeatedly rebuffed by Jobs and company before, the Flash maker had kept up hope that it could sway (or nag) Apple into validating its wares, but the final straw in this relationship seems to have been Apple's dev tool lockdown. So what will Adobe do now? Principal Product Manager Mike Chambers tells us that Android is doing kind of okay and his company will shift its attentions to it and other mobile platforms. Of course, we're just giving you the cleaned up version -- for the full finger-pointing diatribe against Apple, you'll have to hit the source link. Update: Right on cue, here's Apple's terse response: "Someone has it backwards--it is HTML5, CSS, JavaScript, and H.264 (all supported by the iPhone and iPad) that are open and standard, while Adobe's Flash is closed and proprietary."
Adobe CS5 launched, wallets everywhere cry out as one and are silenced
As with earlier versions, CS5 will come in different flavors. For the print media designer, there's Adobe CS5 Design Premium (US$1,899, upgrades from $599), which includes new versions of Photoshop, Illustrator, InDesign, Flash Catalyst and Professional, Dreamweaver, Fireworks, Acrobat 9 Pro, and Bridge and Device Central. If you're primarily working in the Web design world, you'll want to pick up Adobe CS5 Web Premium ($1,799, upgrades from $599). It features Dreamweaver, Contribute, Flash Catalyst, Professional and Builder, Photoshop Extended, Illustrator, Acrobat 9 Pro, Fireworks, and Bridge and Design Central. Video professionals will swoon over Adobe CS5 Production Premium ($1,699, upgrades from $599), made up of Premiere Pro, After Effects, Photoshop Extended, Soundbooth, OnLocation, Encore, Flash Catalyst and Professional, Dynamic Link, and Bridge and Design Central. Of course, you can always max out that Visa card and get the whole shootin' match -- AKA Adobe CS5 Master Collection ($2,599, upgrades from $899). This includes everything that you could possibly want or need, except for the octo-core Mac Pro you'll need to run all of this. During the breathless and "Flashy" livestream event this morning (a livestream of something that was obviously pre-recorded), Flash Player 10.1 was also announced. Adobe is still hopeful that they'll be able to let iPhone and iPad users join in on the fun through content developed in Flash Pro CS5 and run through Packager for iPhone, although Apple has other ideas. For creative professionals, today's announcement definitely provides excitement in terms of new features and functionality for the suite, but also creates the dilemma of how to afford the pricey software and upgrade their hardware to run the applications at a decent speed. In the past, many designers have waited to upgrade Adobe's Creative Suite until the inevitable bugs have been quashed. How about you, TUAW readers? If you're in the design world, are you going to pick up CS5 as soon as you can?
Wired's tablet app goes on show: developed on AIR, heading to the iPad (video)
Mmm, digital magazines. They are the little bites of paid-for content that all the publishers believe we should be deeply enthralled with. Hoping to show us why exactly it is that we should all care (and pay) for prepackaged digital content is Wired's latest and most comprehensive demo of its tablet app on an unspecified 16:9 device. Setting aside hopefuls like the Joojoo and Adam for a moment, it is clear that this is ultimately intended for Apple's iPad -- the device that stands by far the biggest chance of making the digimag concept a commercial success. Interesting choice of development partner, then, as Condé Nast has opted to use Adobe's AIR platform for the underlying mechanics. Adobe promises its Packager for iPhone, part of CS5, will allow devs to easily port AIR apps to run natively on the iPad, but until Apple gives its official assent to the final code, nothing is guaranteed -- and Packager hasn't even officially shipped yet. As far as the app goes, it'll come with Twitter and Facebook integration, and navigation is geared toward the touching and swiping model so prevalent today. See it on video after the break.
