Adobe urged to give up on Apple

Abode has been in a war of words with Apple for months

Adobe should drop its long-running dispute with Apple and instead focus on providing Flash to carriers to improve its strength in the mobile market, according to analysts.

In a report entitled Adobe should cut its iPhone losses and target Flash at carriers, Tony Cripps, a principal analyst with Ovum, said the company would be better off cutting its losses with the Cupertino giant.

"Carriers are increasingly keen to try to improve their offerings to customers through applications platforms, and so by partnering with Adobe they could take advantage of the growing number of new devices that will run Flash," he said.

"For Adobe it would give them a new market to aim at and bring a huge developer community that works with Flash to a new market area, and would give them some protection from an active campaign to undermine the company's products."

Cripps added that telecoms bodies such as the Joint Innovation Trust (JIL) and Wholesale Application Community (WAC) have been looking at initiatives to improve the software platform of carriers and so should consider working alongside Adobe.

He conceded that carriers have often been wary of opening up their platforms to new developers, but said better communication would resolve this.

"Only a small number of carriers have signed up to projects like the Adobe-led Open Screen Project, so there needs to be some dialogue between the two sides to come to an arrangement that's mutually beneficial for them both," he added.

Adobe has been in a protracted battle with Apple over its Flash product, with the iPhone manufacturer refusing to use Flash in its products, claiming it is "too buggy" and a "CPU hog".