ThisIsLeon.co.uk

I was reading the rather brilliant AS3.0 book by Colin Moock today, when a thought suddenly popped into my head: what if the iPhone could run the Adobe Air runtime. Just think of this scenario:- I could create a RIA in Flash using AS3.0 which I could deploy on a website. Lets say its a Rich Text Editor, or Blog editing tool. I could then easily convert this to run on the desktop for Mac, Windows (and soon Linux) without much or any extra coding. I could then also deploy it straight to the iPhone. The idea of create once, and deploy many could be a real reality.

Some may ask, what is the point of having an offline web-app for the iPhone when it is connected to the net 24/7. Valid point, but Air has the ability to integrate fully into the OS, so in effect we could create full blown integrated applications with ease.

For me this would be brilliant as I am already a Flash developer so there would be no need to learn yet another scripting language. I think actionscript, VB, asp and asp.net are enough!!

With the new Flash player running at up to 10 times faster than version 9, and Flash’s ability to capture and display video, exciting and interactive mashups could easily be created. I have already shown how a webcam can be used to create a motion sensitive interface. Imagine that on your iPhone: not only could you use finger jesture, and the rotate function to interact with your phone, but you could literally wave at it (this would require a front facing camera, but you get where i’m going with this).

I think if Apple and Adobe, got together properly on this then the growth of the web-connected desktop would take a huge leap forward!!