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Adobe and HTC annouced yesterday that the new "HTC Hero" will be the first Android phone to ship with support for Adobe® Flash® Platform technology. This will definitely help the web browsing experience as a large percentage of the content available on the web is Flash. For video content on the web, we can even say close to 80% is Flash content. It seems obvious why this is a very valuable functionality for the phone.

A lot of applications that where not available to mobile phones in the past are now available and better integrated. For instance: You can play a Youtube video online and double tap your screen to go Fullscreen.

"The HTC Hero delivers powerful, compatible video playback performance using Flash technology, and interactive content enabled by ActionScript® 2.0. Users can enjoy and navigate through Web videos using intuitive video controls. With progressive streaming of large MP3 audio files from a Web server and the local file storage, the HTC Hero provides a seamless audio experience. Support for Sorenson and On2 VP6 codecs enables higher quality video and playback of existing Web content."

A demo of the user experience enabled by the Flash Platform on the HTC Hero and the Android operating system can be viewed at www.adobe.com/go/htchero.

Read the Press Release

[Press Release] Local Search Sites Expand Reach via Mobile Phones with Mobile Subscribers Increasingly Using Downloaded Applications and SMS for Local Content

RESTON, VA, June 9, 2009 – comScore, Inc. (NASDAQ: SCOR), a leader in measuring the digital world, today reported that the number of people who sought local information on a mobile device grew 51 percent from March 2008 to March 2009.

The mobile browser is the leading access method for seeking local information, with 20.7 million users in March 2009, up 34 percent versus year ago. However, the strongest growth in the category is coming from downloaded applications, which grew 83 percent versus year ago, followed by SMS at 72 percent. However, despite the attention mobile applications have received from developers, carriers and device OEMs, they remain the least popular access mode for mobile access of local information, with 11.3 million users in March. A marginally more often used channel for obtaining local information is SMS, with 11.7 million users, and an impressive 72-percent growth rate. Overwhelmingly, though, the preferred mode to access local content remains the mobile browser.

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