Guest post: Mobile challenge in Europe
I’m happy to announce the official launch of a contest for EU residents: The Adobe Mobile Challenge. Adobe are challenging you to build a great AIR app and publish it into the Apple Store, the Android Marketplace and the BlackBerry App World for a chance to win a trip to Adobe MAX in Los Angeles, California this October. The first prize includes a flight, hotel accommodation and entry to Adobe MAX. Runner up prizes include Creative Suite 5.5 and Flash Builder Premium 4.5.1.
This is your chance to show us and the world what you can do. Using AS3 or Adobe Flex you can now develop advanced mobile applications and run them on iOS, Android and on the BlackBerry PlayBook. So what are you waiting for? Get coding. That said, you don’t have to build a new or exclusive application for this contest; if you’ve already published an application, feel free to submit it.
This challenge is managed by Adobe Europe, that’s why the competition is open to EU residents only :Austria, Belgium, Bulgaria, Cyprus, Czech Republic, Denmark, Estonia, Finland, France, Germany, Greece, Hungary, Ireland, Italy, Latvia, Lithuania, Luxembourg, Malta, Netherlands, Poland, Portugal, Romania, Slovakia, Slovenia, Spain, Sweden & United Kingdom.
The submissions end on the 1st of September. Then the members of the jury will elect the best applications.You just need to develop an AIR mobile application with or without the Flex framework. It can be a game, a pure artistic experience, a lifestyle application, or even a productivity application… there’s no restriction except that it be a useful and interesting app. If you have already developed an application, you can submit that as well. You are not forced to create a new exclusive AIR application for this challenge.
Visit the dedicated website of this contest to discover its rules, the prizes and members of the jury: www.adobemobilechallenge.com
Build iOS applications with Flex and Flash Builder 4.5.1
You already know that you can use Flex 4.5 and Flash Builder 4.5 to build applications for Android and BlackBerry Tablet OS devices. Today we’re releasing an update to Flash Builder that will enable the exact same workflow to build iOS apps. You’ve probably see us demo this a million times already but today it’s here for you to start building your applications!
In this video I’m showing you have easy it is to do this and where to get all the developer and device certificates from.
The coolest thing is that you can now use the exact same code to build apps for Android, BlackBerry Tablet OS and iOS devices in one go! When you’re app is ready you only need to press the release build button to package your application for all these platforms.
“But my application won’t look native, Serge“. Well… I kinda like that. Flex gives you the freedom to make your application look however you want. But if you really need that native iOS feel then check out this Flex theme.
Want to find out more about Flash Builder 4.5? Then don’t forget to sign up for our Developer Week. It starts today and tomorrow I’ll be talking about mobile application development using Flex and Flash Builder 4.5.1.
If you already have Flash Builder 4.5 then go to the HELP menu and select SEARCH FOR FLASH BUILDER UPDATES to download the 4.5.1 update. If you haven’t upgraded to Flash Builder 4.5 yet then try it for 60 days. I guarantee you’ll love it. Oh… And yes… The iOS workflow also works on Windows!
AIR 2.7 now available for desktop, Android, iOS and Blackberry Tablet OS.
When I think about the new features in AIR 2.7 I can’t help but think about this Daft Punk song… Harder, Better, Faster, Stronger. That’s exactly what this release is all about… Well… You know what I mean ;-)
On mobile my favorite new feature is the improved rendering on iOS. With this release AIR apps for iOS render up to 4x faster in CPU mode. This change will improve the performance of many AIR for iOS apps, including those built with the Flex framework.
But don’t believe our words for it… Try it out yourself! There are already some really cool AIR apps in the appstore today. Try the Rossignol app for instance.
Or try one of Terry Paton’s games like Meteor Storm or Mazeball!
Another one of my favorite new features is probably the most requested feature for AIR for Android. You can now install or move the AIR runtime onto the SD cards within your Android devices!
An update for Flash Builder will be released soon but you can already grab the AIR SDK today and start building your apps!
Flash Builder sneak peek: Mobile application development
I’m sure you all know that Flash Builder will enable you to build applications with Flex and/or ActionScript and then compile them for distribution on the Android Market. An upcoming version of Flash Builder will also enable the same workflow for iOS and BlackBerry Tablet OS applications. You’ll even be able to package these different types of installers in one go.
1 code base, 6 devices: Now including BlackBerry PlayBook
A couple of weeks ago I published a post about a proof-of-concept application that I built for a local commercial broadcaster. The app that I built in just 5 hours ran on 5 different devices. As I just started playing around with the BlackBerry PlayBook SDK I wanted to see how long it would take to push this app to the PlayBook. I was pleasantly surprised that it just worked! It only took me 2 minutes. So I can now say: 1 code base, 5 hours, 6 devices! It now runs on my desktop/laptop, HTC Desire HD (Android smartphone), Samsung Galaxy Tab (Android tablet), Google TV, AIR for TV, and now the BlackBerry PlayBook. And that, my friends, is the power of the Flash Platform! ;-) It’s a great time to be a Flash developer!
When you look at the video you will see one small flaw in my app though. The preloader screen doesn’t adapt to the bigger screen resolution so that will be the only thing I would have to update. Everything else is exactly the same code as the Android version of the application.
To get started building applications for the BlackBerry PlayBook check out the BlackBerry developer site. My fellow evangelist Renaun Erickson also has a ton of information about developing for the PlayBook on his blog!
Please note that the PlayBook emulator currently does not output audio from Flash video files and currently only plays videos that are encoded with the On2 VP6 codec. This is only a limitation because of the beta quality of the emulator.
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