This post is instigated by Adobe discontinuing mobile Flash. With this move, Adobe did one of the bravest, most difficult moves a company can do: venturing away from a safe market and into an uncharted future. It is also clear this move affects every one - it will dictate how video and all other rich content will be consumed on the mobile web.
There are many reasons why flash failed, and many opportunities going forward with new technology. Lets focus on the innate conflict relevant in other cases as well: the break with backward compatibility and an existing customer base in order to move forward with a new technology.
One of the issues faced by Adobe was the fact that there were many Flash Players in the wild, and Adobe had to maintain backward compatibility. In my mind, this held them up from offering new technologies (e.g. GPU access) to all platforms, and that held the platform back.
When looking at a mature product, with a large installed base, and deciding on new features, you have to keep the same lesson learned in mind: “do I make another ‘add-on’ to my product, or is it time to break away and consider something new”. For example:
- Do you really need the mobile version to offer the same functionality as the desktop version? are these the same use cases?
- Do users consume content the same way on phones, tables, PCs and television? is it a “one app to rule them all” game, or is it a different flavor for each platform?
- Do different verticals need the same UI/UX, or does each of your verticals care about different aspects, maybe offer different products to them, maybe even integrate with their existing platform, and not force them to learn a new paradigm
