MobileBeat 2010: Adobe looks at the future of Flash and HTML

One of the biggest debates in the mobile industry has been over platforms and standards — particularly the contest between Adobe’s Flash technology, the new version of the basic Web standard HTML5, and the lure of native applications like those sold in Apple’s App Store.

We’ll be debating these issues during a panel called “The Future of Flash and HTML” at VentureBeat’s MobileBeat 2010 conference, which runs from July 12 to 13 in San Francisco.

The format issue can seem a bit arcane, but it will shape which companies dominate the mobile landscape. Apple has said it doesn’t plan to support Flash websites on the iPhone and iPad, and suggested that it will block Flash apps from being exported to the iPhone, too. Apple’s Steve Jobs wrote an essay arguing that Flash is an outdated technology, and while the company’s main platform is the App Store, Apple is also promoting websites built in HTML5.

Adobe Chief Technology Officer Kevin Lynch responded that Apple is playing “a legal game” and compared Jobs to a 19th century railroad tycoon. He also downplayed the idea that the debate is between HTML5 and Flash, arguing that both technologies have their place, and that Adobe will build tools supporting both.

Meanwhile, startups (and larger companies, too) need to figure out where to focus their mobile development energy.

To help attendees figure out where things are going, we’ll have Anup Murarka, director of partner development and technology strategy in Adobe’s business unit, speaking on the panel. We’ll also have Abraham Elias, president and chief executive of Sencha, a Sequoia Capital-backed startup that has declared that native applications are dead, thanks to its platform for HTML5 mobile websites. Rounding things out we’ll have Josh Larson, president and chief operating officer of Flash gaming company Mochi Media, which recently launched a mobile website to tie into Flash’s arrival on Google’s Android phones (a Flash website on Android is pictured above). I’ll be the moderator.

For all conference details, including speaker and agenda updates, check out the MobileBeat 2010 website, then register here. Hurry — the conference starts Monday.