Greystripe And Adobe Partner To Bring Flash Ads To The iPhone And iPad. Sort Of.

Leena Rao

Leena Rao is currently a Senior Editor for TechCrunch. She recently finished graduate school at the Medill School of Journalism at Northwestern University, where she studied business journalism and videography. From 2004 to 2007, she helped lead Congresswoman Carloyn Maloney’s community outreach and relations efforts in New York City. She graduated from Columbia University in 2003, where she was... → Learn More

Monday, June 7th, 2010

The ongoing battle between Adobe and Apple over the lack of support for Flash on the iPhone and iPad has been entertaining to say the least. Adobe has been candid about what they think of Apple’s policy, and in turn, Steve Jobs has been open about his thoughts on Flash. But in the end, Flash is still not supported on Apple’s iPhone and iPad. Today, Adobe is partnering with mobile ad network Greystripe to help bring Flash authored ads to the iPhone, iPad, Android and mobile web. Well, sort of.

Greystripe’s technology now transcodes Flash authored ads as HTML5 to mobile devices that do not support Flash Player (such as the iPhone and iPad); these ads will be supported in both applications and on the mobile web. There’s no work for the advertisers or publishers; Greystripe says the transition from Flash to HTML5 is seamless. Greystripe’s new technology for Apple’s Safari web browser will allow real-time transcoding of Flash authored creative work to HTML5.

Greystripe has been allowing advertisers to use Flash-like technologies in their iPhone and iPad advertisements for some time now. The network essentially takes ads created using Flash and transcodes them to run on the iPhone and now the iPad. The technology changes the nature of the Flash ads on the front end but the rich media ad behaves the same way. With this partnership, Gresytripe is working with Adobe directly to be able to allow advertisers and developers to be able to target devices that do not support Flash by transcoding ads to HTML5.

And Adobe, who has also recently embraced HTML5, is probably wise to help ad startups like Greystripe be able to offer the ability to switch from Flash to a supported rich media format. But it should be interesting to see how Greystripe and other independent mobile ad networks manage to compete with Google’s AdMob and Apple’s iAd networks.

Company: Adobe Systems
Website: adobe.com
Launch Date: December 1982
IPO: NASDAQ:ADBE

Adobe Systems Incorporated is a diversified software company. The Company offers a line of business and mobile software and services used by professionals, designers, knowledge workers, high-end consumers, original equipment manufacturer (OEM) partners, developers and enterprises for creating, managing, delivering and engaging with compelling content and experiences across multiple operating systems, devices and media. Adobe distributes its products through a network of distributors and dealers, value-added resellers (VARs), systems integrators, independent software vendors (ISVs) and OEMs, direct to end...

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Company: Greystripe
Website: greystripe.com
Launch Date: 2005
Funding: $17.6M

Greystripe is the leading mobile advertising platform that provides smarter mobile solutions through full-screen ad formats, world-class data and proprietary cross-device targeting capabilities. With over eight years of mobile experience, Greystripe delivers the highest engagement rates for brand marketers, maximum revenue for publishers and app developers, and the best ad experience for users. Greystripe is a product line of ValueClick Inc. (NASDAQ: VCLK), one of the world’s largest and most comprehensive online marketing services companies. Greystripe was named one of...

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