Mark Bridge writes:
Flash is dead, HTML5 is the future. Okay, the next stage in the evolution of the mobile browser isn’t that clear – but a restructure at Adobe has pretty much marked the end of mobile Flash development.
Let’s get the rest of the week’s bad news out the way now. It seems Best Buy UK couldn’t convince enough people that its products were… well… best buys. That’s one suggestion after Best Buy Europe announced plans to close its eleven so-called ‘Big Box’ stores in the UK. Most staff are expected to be offered roles within The Carphone Warehouse – and we’ll see the Best Buy brand in some of those shops as well.
The Motorola Defy isn’t as tough as the company suggests, according to the Advertising Standards Authority. O2 UK isn’t selling the Nokia Lumia 800 Windows Phone handset in its shops. And applications from Apple’s App Store aren’t necessarily as safe as you might think.
Bad news also came for Nigel Cranswick, who was arrested after attempting the UK’s largest VAT fraud. Some might suggest that claiming a start-up turnover of almost £100 million per week was a bit of a giveaway.
Doing its best to give the UK an enthusiastic kick up the backside was eBay, which published a mobile manifesto in a bid to boost economic recovery. Equally enthusiastic about new technology was Bromley FC; it persuaded its footballers to have QR Codes shaved into their hair.
Huawei was another company coming high in the enthusiasm stakes, having announced plans for a European design centre in London – and Sir Richard Branson was announced as one of the new investors in mobile payment company Square Inc, although neither he nor Square has revealed the amount of investment involved.
I started by talking about HTML5 – and that’s where I’ll finish. Our feature report on Monday last week saw me talking to Carsten Mickeleit, the CEO of Cortado, about a new HTML5 client that offers desktop-type document access on a variety of mobile devices. Is HTML5 the future? On the basis of what we’ve seen in the past few days, it’s certainly a big part of it.
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