Adobe listed a number of high-profile companies that support the newest version of the Flash Player including Dell, Samsung, Google, RIM, HTC, Arm, Nvidia, Qualcomm, Intel and Texas Instruments. Content partners that said they're happy for the new release include Turner, Viacom, HBO, MSNBC and Photobucket.

One company notably absent is Apple, which has publicly derided Adobe and is pushing the next-generation HTML 5 instead. Many content producers have been willing to recreate or format their content for display on Apple's iPhone and iPad. But many haven't, as is evident in a comment made by Forrester Research analyst Jeffrey Hammond in a about Flash Player 10.1. He tested it on his Nexus One and wrote: "I think it's great to not have to deal with 'little blue cubes' on the sites I visit every day." Instead of content, iPhone users see blue boxes on pages designed with Flash.

Still, Apple's stance throws a wrench in Adobe's strategy. "[Adobe] realized there was an opportunity in the market and they got ahead of the game and positioned themselves to be the cross-platform form factor across mobile and desktop," said Al Hilwa, an analyst with IDC. "They thought it was just a matter of implementing those variations but it turned out it's not just that. The owners of the platforms like [Apple's CEO Steve] Jobs have to say we'll use it, and he didn't," he said.

However, all of the major platforms except the iPhone are supporting Flash Player 10.1. That means that developers who wish to make their content available to most smartphones will be able to use Flash to cover most devices, creating separate content or applications for iPhone users.

Adobe's battle with Apple points to the challenges that software makers face in the mobile market, a challenge that not just Adobe faces. "It's not like in the desktop world where they could do all the work themselves and release it," said Hilwa. "They have to work hand in hand with the device makers. That's the nature of mobile software. It's gated through the device makers so it's a much more complicated integration story."