Adobe have announced a new version of AIR (the Adobe Integrated Runtime) at their MAX conference in Los Angeles. AIR is a cross-platform environment allowing developers to build one application that works on multiple platforms without needing to modify the application. It is based on the Flash technology, and was previously available for Windows, Mac and Linux operating systems.
Recently, AIR has been made available for the Android mobile operating system, and today's release of AIR 2.5 brings the platform to a lot more devices. Samsung's new SmartTV television line launching in early 2011 will be the first to come with AIR built-in. Additionally, RIM's upcoming Blackberry PlayBook will be able to run AIR applications; it already uses AIR for some of its interface components. One set of devices that are still missing are Apple's iOS devices such as the iPhone and iPad; the ongoing feud between Apple and Adobe hasn't abated and it looks unlikely that AIR apps will be available on those devices for some time.
There are also many new features in AIR for developers, taking advantage of the new devices it can run on. Apps can now leverage accelerometer data; geo-location information; and camera and video capture abilities. Developers can also tap into multi-touch input systems and gestures, and take advantage of a 50% faster JavaScript engine.
Finally, the release of AIR 2.5 coincides with the launch of InMarket, a cross-platform app store for AIR applications. It takes the interesting line of allowing developers to deploy their AIR application to InMarket once, and it will then automatically release the application on all the supported App Stores. It then collects together sales data from all of the deployments, and provides a one-stop location for developers to sell their apps. Currently InMarket only works with the Intel AppUP, but is expected to work with the Android Market some time in the near future.
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