Adobe used its Adobe MAX event to update its Air cross-platform runtime environment, which is intended to enable developers to target televisions, tablets, smartphones and desktop operating systems using the same apps. The company also announced InMarket, its attempt to smooth the app submission process for developers using its technology, although as-yet its reach in the mobile market is limited.

Air 2.5 unveiled
Adobe says that the latest incarnation of Air, Air 2.5, supports platforms including Android, BlackBerry and iOS, as well as desktop platforms including Linux, Macintosh and Windows. In addition, Samsung will be the “first television manufacturer to integrate support for Air 2.5 in Samsung SmartTVs,” with Acer, HTC, Motorola, RIM and Samsung expected to pre-install the runtime on smartphone and tablets “later this year and early 2011.”

AIR is designed to allow the creation of standalone applications using tools including Adobe’s Flash Professional CS5, Adobe Flash Builder, and Flex, which can then run on multiple devices. The company says that “thousands of them are already available in Android Market, Intel AppUp centre, and Apple’s App Store today.”

According to the company, AIR 2.5 enables the delivery of rich user experiences through new features including support for accelerometers, camera, video, microphone, multi-touch and gestures. It is also able to display native-browser controls within the application, allowing for the integration of HTML and .SWF content. It includes SQLite support, enabling developers to store and cache databases inside an Air application, and hardware acceleration for Air is enabled “across all major silicon partners including Broadcom, Intel, NVIDIA ST Microelectronics, Trident, TI, Qualcomm “and others.”

The Register reports that Adobe is working with Microsoft to offer Air 2.5 on WP7 devices, but that it missed the cut-off date to be included with the platform at launch.

InMarket unveiled
Adobe also announced the debut of InMarket, which it describes as “a centralised portal where you can publish and manage your apps in multiple app stores across a range of devices.” Once the app is published, users can discover and pay for apps using the store where they are found, with InMarket operating “seamlessly in the background.” Adobe and its partners are adopting the standard 70/30 revenue split.

The company says that it is “working with a number of store partners to provide the widest distribution possible across notebooks, netbooks, tablets, mobile phones and televisions.” The first named partner is Intel’s AppUp store, which also powers stores for retailers Best Buy (US), Croma Electronics Megastore (India) and Dixons (UK), and netbook vendor Asus. InMarket will be “growing rapidly and will add several additional stores over the coming months.” The Register notes that Adobe has confirmed that Apple is not one of its potential partners, as “Apple isn’t motivated to do this.”

In order to participate in InMarket, developers need to include a licensing API in software which works across stores. Apps will need to pass a “validation” process which takes up to ten business days, and reports will be provided to enable developers to track the sales performance of their products.

App store analytics firm Distimo notes that while Adobe currently says that InMarket participation is free for developers, it will charge from next year. Early-adopters participating in the programme before this point will be “grandfathered in,” giving them an additional twelve months without payment.

Developer tools updated, Flash Player for Android trumpeted
Also announced at the event was a new release of Adobe’s Flash platform tools, including an AIR 2.5 software development kit, which will enable developers to build mobile and multiscreen applications for smartphones, tablets and televisions. An update to the open-source Flex framework provides developers with a common framework for building web, desktop, “and now mobile” applications.

Adobe also said its Flash Player 10.1 is “one of the top free apps on Android Market,” with more than 50,000 users giving it a 4.5-out-of-5 rating. It has been downloaded more than 2 million times by Android device owners, and is also distributed by device manufacturers and operators on a pre-installed basis.