Adobe Systems has abandoned development of its Flash player for mobile devices in what amounts to a posthumous recognition of the software’s condemnation by Apple chief Steve Jobs.

Adobe shares fell as much as 14 per cent yesterday, with the Flash announcement part of a wider restructuring to focus on its digital media and digital marketing businesses, which it said were “explosive growth categories”.

The Silicon Valley company said about 750 jobs would be lost, or about 7 per cent of its workforce, and revenue growth over the next year would be cut by four to five percentage points, as investment was reduced and licence sales fell in certain enterprise products that were no longer a focus.

Adobe’s attempts to introduce Flash on mobile devices have been fraught with poor performance. Steve Jobs did not allow its use on the Safari browser for the iPhone, iPad and iPod Touch. – (Copyright The Financial Times Limited 2011)