E-commerce giant to stop using Flash

Consumers who visit one of the Internet's biggest retailers won’t have to worry anymore about seeing messages informing them they need to install or update Adobe Flash.



As of Sept. 1, Amazon.com will no longer accept Flash ads. In a statement on the technical guidelines page of the Amazon Advertising site, the company said the change was driven by recent browser setting updates from Google Chrome, and existing browser settings from Mozilla Firefox and Apple Safari, that limit Flash content displayed on Web pages.



The statement also said the change will ensure a “positive, consistent experience on Amazon” and guarantee optimal ad performance across the Amazon site. New regulations also prohibit pop-ups or pop-unders, either on Amazon.com or any landing pages, require accurate URL displays and prohibit the triggering of any software downloads without notifying the user and offering a chance to decline the download.



Apple released the iPad without Flash support in 2010, and Mozilla, Chrome and Safari have all recently ended or scaled back support for Flash. Facebook has also publicly called for Adobe to announce an end-of-life date for Flash plug-in support. Amazon’s decision to stop supporting Flash will most likely hasten what appears to be a slow, inevitable demise for the once-ubiquitous rich Web content delivery platform.