Somewhere Steve Jobs is smiling, as Adobe has announced plans to rebrand its Flash Professional CC software as Animate CC to acknowledge a growing move away from Flash.
In a blog post on its website, Adobe explains that more than a third of content created in Flash Pro CC uses HTML5, leading the company to rename the software to “accurately represent its position as the premier animation tool for the web and beyond.”
The change is much more than just a new name, as Adobe is working on major feature updates for the software, including improved drawing, illustration, and authoring support, as well as better integration with Adobe Stock and Creative Cloud libraries.
Flash will not disappear overnight, as while the focus of the content produced from the app will now be HTML5-centric, Animate CC will still support the Flash and Air formats, with work already underway on Flash Player 12.
Adobe Animate CC will debut in January, and previous versions of Flash Professional will continue to be available.
Usage of Flash has been in decline for several years, beginning with Apple’s refusal to support it on its iOS devices. Adobe eventually eliminated it Flash Player for mobile devices as of 2011. Adobe’s maligned animation package has been hit with performance and security concerns, leading such major Internet players as Amazon to no longer accept Flash ads.
