In 2017 Adobe announced the End Of Life for the Flash browser plugin was coming at the end of 2020. Flash developers still had the ability to deploy their applications to desktops and mobile devices using Adobe AIR technology. Today, Adobe announced the EOL for that platform as well.
As of June 2019, Adobe is transitioning ongoing platform support and feature development of AIR to HARMAN. This will coincide with an Adobe-issued update of AIR, v32, for supported mobile and desktop platforms. HARMAN has a long-standing history as an Adobe AIR partner, maintains knowledge of the platform and ecosystem, and is well-positioned to support AIR developers moving forward.
HARMAN (a wholly‐owned subsidiary of Samsung Electronics Co., Ltd.) designs and engineers connected products and solutions for automakers, consumers, and enterprises worldwide. HARMAN’s software services power billions of mobile devices and systems that are connected, integrated and secure across all platforms, from work and home to car and mobile. Adobe has a long history collaborating with HARMAN, which is a key partner for Flash runtime migration and enterprise support as companies transition their existing ActionScript and Flex applications to new technologies. HARMAN has also been supporting customers with bespoke versions of Adobe AIR for the past decade.
Adobe will provide basic security support – limited to security fixes only for desktop platforms (Windows 7 and above, and Mac OS X) – for Adobe AIR v32 until the end of 2020. After that time, Adobe support for AIR will be discontinued and ongoing support will be managed by HARMAN and communicated by them directly. However, beginning with the release of AIR v33 by HARMAN, developers should contact HARMAN directly for AIR support on both mobile and desktop platforms – including bug fixes, platform compatibility, and new and improved functionality.
This means HARMAN will now control the future of the AIR platform and I would certainly expect Adobe tools to complete the transition away from supporting Flash, removing a great deal of the developer appeal in the first place. You can learn more about HARMAN’s future plans for the Flash/AIR platform here.