Other features give developers the ability to package Air 3 within an application to simplify installation of apps on Android, Windows and Mac OS, much the same as Adobe has done for Apple iOS recently.

Adobe also said developers will be able to extend capabilities already built in to the device, such as the accelerometer or near-field communications technology, through HTML5 as well as Flash.

Even so, Adobe notes that 130 different models of smartphones and 85 tablets will run Flash-based apps by the end of the year, totaling about 200 million units. That number is expected to reach more than 1 billion units by the end of 2015.

Matt Hamblen covers mobile and wireless, smartphones and other handhelds, and wireless networking for Computerworld. Follow Matt on Twitter at or subscribe to . His e-mail address is .

in Computerworld's Applications Topic Center.