Adobe announces Creative Suite 5.5

SOFTWARE FIRM Adobe has updated its Creative Suite 5.5 product set putting it much deeper into the heart of smartphone and tablet development with improved Flash authoring and HTML5.

The update focuses on mobile devices as well as digital publishing, video tools and additional capabilities that will cater to handheld devices, but perhaps most important it sees Adobe promise to release more updates more regularly as it seeks to keep pace with the development of mobile operating systems.

From now on the firm will be putting out major updates at two year intervals and releasing mid-cycle updates to get the latest advances out to users as quickly as possible. This will mean more updates, more often. Adobe said it will ship updates every twelve months.

"With these releases, developers for the first time have a single development platform for building highly expressive web, mobile, and desktop applications, marking a leap forward for mobile app development." said Ed Rowe, VP of development tooling at Adobe.

Adobe also announced Flash Builder 4.5, which is also available as part of the Creative Suite 5.5 Web Premium package, and the Flex 4.5 framework, which are aimed at developers that want to build mobile applications for the many Android, BlackBerry Playbook and IOS devices that are expected to be sold by the end of 2011.

Flex 4.5 has been updated for Android now, while support for Blackberry Tablet OS and IOS is expected to be available by Summer. Meanwhile, the Apple OS seems to have gotten particular attention as Adobe has released Adobe Color Lava for Photoshop, Adobe Eazel for Photoshop and Adobe Nav for Photoshop as separate apps.

While some might fear for the future of Flash as HTML5 gains momentum, Adobe highlighted that more Flash enabled smartphones are on the market than ever. It revealed that 131 million smartphones installed the Flash Player software by the end of 2010, making updates to Flash authoring an important part of this software suite.

Creative Suite 5.5 Web Premium Suite is available separately and allows HTML5 and Flash to work for "virtually any screen", according to Adobe. Again it means that designers and developers can make content for Android, IOS and Blackberry Tablet operating systems, as well as other systems.

Creative Suite 5.5 Production Premium aims at audio and video professionals, and has features including faster performance, support for additional GPU hardware, a Warp Stabiliser for reducing the effect of a shaking camera, Light Falloff for light simulation, and improved collaboration tools.

The Design Premium suite adds additional digital publishing options, including Folio Producer, video and audio integration, panoramic views, 360-degree object rotation, image pan and zoom, and HMTL and HTML5 support.

Adobe Creative Suite 5.5 products will ship within 30 days, the firm said. Street prices are estimated, but start at £2,303 for CS5.5 Master Collection, £1,509 for CS5.5 Design Premium, £1,429 for CS5.5 Web Premium, £1,509 for CS5.5 Production Premium and £1,032 for CS5.5 Design Standard.

Upgrade pricing and volume licensing will also be available. µ