By 
Just as promised, Adobe AIR has officially landed in the Android Market as of today. AIR, for the uninitiated, allows for mobile developers to easily port applications built up using services like Flash into neat and tidy mobile packages to be launched as applications rather than ran in a web browser. As Flash as an integral aprt to the technology, of course you will need an Android 2.2 (Froyo) device.
Currently the number of applications available for the runtime is limited, but you can check out a short list compiled by Adobe’s Serge Jespers over on AppBrain. As with any new application platform, AIR will need time to mature and grow before true gems start to show up for the service, but for now you can check out some pretty standard Flash-game fare to get an idea of what AIR can offer.
At the Adobe Android Summit over the summer I had the chance to get an in-depth look at future plans for AIR, and without getting long-winded I will just say they are rather exciting to say the least. I’ve said it before, but if you want to peg any platform that Adobe is launching as a game-changer, AIR easily bests Flash (though they go hand-in-hand).
[via TechCrunch]
Sorry to all those who care about being first, cause I don’t (assuming I’m still first).
Is downloading AIR a must for developers only, or as a normal user should I get it to use apps created with it?
As a normal user you should download it. Unfortunately, existing Air apps do not work with the android version (as far as I can tell), so it may mean that you will not benefit from this for a few weeks or until devs start updating their existing air apps.
Will the Air Apps show up in the android market? (I hope so)
@Pitrick
there are already very few adobe air apps, just search for “adobe air” in the market and you should find some, most of them are for testing purposes
I’ve actually posted an AIR app already, so I know you can do it. Check it out! “SpeedTracer”
Some transactions have gone through fine. Put it up last night around midnight.
Here’s a growing list of AIR apps for Android put together by someone at Adobe:
http://www.appbrain.com/user/webkitchen/air-applications
If you’re not interested in any of these apps, you don’t need to install Adobe AIR. If you come across an AIR app in the future that you download and don’t have AIR, the app will prompt you to install AIR to use the app.
Regular .AIR files won’t work on their own. The app needs to be converted into .apk file, using the latest AIR SDK in order for Android to read the file and run the app. Not to mention most desktop AIR apps need to be modified to fit and work properly on a smaller screen. Plus developers might want to add touch events, instead of using mouse events (although click events should work just fine with anyone just touching a button).
Acc to info on Android Market the app size is 5,65 Mb, when you install the app and check size in menu/settings/applications; its size on the phone storage is 18 Mb (?) besides app2sd not supported. This is a big problem especially if you have a limited phone storage like in my case (HTC Desire; 147 Mb total phone storage out of the box, had just 14 Mb free space at time of the installation & had to uninstall some of the apps in order to be able to install Adobe Air, after installation I had 8 Mb free, therefore I could not install another app which is listed as AIR app in AppBrain, tired of that and uninstallled AIR immediately) so take this into account before installing. You need min 35 Mb free space in your phone storage to use it.
Space fail. :|