Q&A With Adobe's Chris Hock

I know you can’t talk about specifics, but what’s in the cards for Flash codecs going forward? Will you open it up for new codecs, work with On2 to improve VP6, or all of the above?
Adobe is very committed to continuing to improve and expand the audio and video capabilities in the Flash platform. While we haven’t released any specific announcements with regards to future audio or video codec improvements for Flash, look at the number of exciting new developments we’ve made in just the couple months, including:
- Adobe Media Player
- Flash Media Encoder
- Streaming video to mobile handsets via Flash Media Server in Flash Lite 3
- Flash Media Solutions Provider program for turnkey services from partners Jalipo, Multicast Media, OnStream, StimTV, and The Feedroom
- Faster FLV encoding via partnership with Rhozet

These demonstrate our commitment to improving audio and video experiences in Flash while streamlining the production workflow.

What impact do you see the Adobe Media Player having on streaming market dynamics?
The Adobe Media Player is an exciting announcement for us because it enables our customers to deliver audio and video for Flash in a new way—via download and play. Consumers will be able to subscribe to their favorite Flash video feeds, have the clips downloaded to them, and view the videos at their convenience whether they are online or offline. For publishers, it enables new ways of leveraging Flash to distribute their content in a custom-branded experience while protecting their content and growing their ad revenue. It should have a pretty dramatic effect on the market.