Adobe used its 4.5 update announcement with words that seem to gently nudge Apple for not adopting the Flash Player. In its official news release of the 4.5 update, Adobe noted that the launch "comes at a time when Adobe Flash technology is taking massive strides forward in the mobile market. With more than 131 million expected to have Flash Player installed by the end of the yer, Adobe Flash brings rich browser-based content to desktops and devices."

Immediately following that sentence, Adobe noted all the devices that do include the Flash Player and the list did not, obviously, include iOS. Air, Flash Builder and Flex can be used to build and deliver rich mobile applications to smartphones and tablets, Adobe added in the statement, a number expected to reach 200 million smartphones and tablets by the end of 2011.

Gruber and Adobe have implied that greater ease in building installed iOS applications with the latest update could somehow reduce the need for the Flash Player on iOS, but that remains to be seen.