Adobe Releases Air 2 and Flash Player 10.1 Betas

Adobe Systems has released beta versions of Adobe Air 2 and Flash Player 10.1. Both betas provide greater mobile device support and also support hardware-based H.264 video decoding. Air 2 and Flash Player 10 allow designers and developers to build rich Web content for the browser while running Flash Player and for the desktop when running Air, PCWorld.com reports.

The new betas represent a forward step in Adobe's Open Screen Project, an initiative that enables developers to target several devices without having to rewrite code, says PC Magazine. David Wadhwani, Adobe general manager and vice president of the Platform Business Unit, touted the release of the betas:

With the beta availability of Adobe AIR 2 and Flash Player 10.1 today, we are taking an important step toward realizing the Open Screen Project vision to enable rich Internet experiences across any device, anywhere. Content creators will provide multi-screen experiences with uncompromised Web browsing and standalone applications across desktops and netbooks, and in the near future across a wide range of mobile devices.

Final releases of Air 2 and Flash Player 10.1 are expected in early 2010.