Flash developers flocking to Ansca Mobile

Developers let down by Adobe turn to Ansca development kit for designing iPhone apps

A lot of Flash developers were disappointed last month when Adobe abandoned plans to release a public beta of Adobe Flash Professional CS5, something the company had been hyping up since October. In tandem with Packager for iPhone, Adobe Flash Professional CS5 is designed so that ActionScript 3 projects can run as native iPhone apps, meaning that Flash developers would be able to easily create iPhone apps without any experience in Apple's Objective-C iPhone programming language.

Fortunately for those let-down developers, Ansca Mobile, which we first took a look at last June, released in early December the Corona 1.0 SDK, a set of development tools that empowers Flash developers to start building iPhone apps with their current skill set. Developers can now design applications in mere weeks, who might have had to set aside months to either learn Objective-C iPhone programming language or wait for Adobe to announce the final release Adobe Flash Professional CS5.

"We’re basically converting our game portfolio," said Shawn Hickey, Chief Architect of Flash design studio Comrade Software. Comrade Software recently released a game called Core Damage (pictured), which could originally only be found on Flash Lite on Verizon Wireless in the United States and Softbank in Japan  "Using Corona, we can port a game to iPhone in about two weeks, with dramatically upgraded graphics and sound, and we’re very happy with the results."

Nick Wright, creator of the apps Flip 'Em Off and Cell Jumper claims that Corona "has shaved weeks off [his] development cycle."

Ansca Mobile has always been about enabling designers, web developers and engineers to put their current skill sets towards creating iPhone apps, and news that Flash developers are embracing Corona proves the power and versatility of the company's development kit.

At the beginning of December, near the release date of Corona, Ansca closed a $1 million Series A round of financing, funded completely by Merus Capital.