Adobe + Facebook encourages app development

At this point, the Adobe Flash platform is ubiquitous. For many users, like the growing number of those browsing on their iPhones its absence can be point of perpetual irritation.

Likewise, Facebook has reached near ubiquity, counting everyone from octogenarian grandparents, to captive elephant seals as users. A marriage of the two is a perfect fit.

Today, the two companies announced just that. For the last five months, Adobe and Facebook have been working together to bring an improved client library specifically for the development of Facebook applications in Flash.

The free, open source programing language library called ActionScript 3.0 Client Library for Facebook Platform. In speaking with Betanews yesterday, Adobe said that 12 of the top 20 applications on Facebook already use Flash, and this library will make development of future applications simpler by multiples. The library now supports 100 APIs, where half a year ago it only supported 40.

The intention of this, Facebook told us, is not only to simplify the process of creating apps for those groups that already do, like popular social gaming company Playfish, but to encourage other companies to try it out and see the possibilities the Social Network's open platform affords.