UPDATE: Apple has responded to Adobe’s move: "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," said spokeswoman Trudy Miller in a statement.
Adobe yesterday announced that they would cease work on any further Flash CS5 development for the iPhone. Mike Chambers, Principal Product Manager for Flash, stated on his blog that the decision hinged on Apple’s recent changes to their SDK license.
Earlier this month Apple changed their SDK licensing terms to restrict applications built with third party compilers and languages—essentially restricting apps made with Flash CS5. While some developers have received assurance that their development platform would be protected, it is unlikely that any further Flash-to-iPhone apps will be approved into the App Store.
Chambers also had some particularly strong words about the App Store’s policies: "Developers should be prepared for Apple to remove existing content and applications (100+ on the store today) created with Flash CS5 from the iTunes store. To be clear, during the entire development cycle of Flash CS5, the feature complied with Apple’s licensing terms. However, as developers for the iPhone have learned, if you want to develop for the iPhone you have to be prepared for Apple to reject or restrict your development at anytime, and for seemingly any reason."
Because of those recent developments, attention and resources are now shifting to other platforms and operating systems. Chambers heralded the open development of Android and said that his team has been working closely with Google to ship Flash Player 10.1 and Adobe AIR 2.0 later this year on both phones and tablets.
Flash and AIR are both in private testing currently but Adobe will provide a public beta soon.