On November 9, 2011, Adobe announced that they are no longer going to be developing the Flash plug-in for mobile devices.  Read about the announcement here: theVerge.com.  You probably know that Flash hasn't worked on the iPhone since day one, and it's been buggy and a battery drainer on the Android devices that it DID work on.  Adobe has conceeded that HTML5 is the answer and will pursue developing tools that further enable development in that area.

Restaurants who have developed flash-based sites.... you've probably lost customers because couple in their car looknig for a place to eat haven't been able to see your menu on their phones.  Musicians?  If you're using flash on your website - lots of people can't hear your music.  Anyone who uses a flash-based menu... people can see your site.... but can't get around it!

So what does this mean for you as a website operator?  Well, if you're still running a flash-based site here's what you should know:

1. First, your site will still work on the desktop.  For people sitting at home or at work on their computers, they'll still be able to see your site just like they always have. Adobe's announcement doesn't affect flash for the major OSes, but it may be a predictor of things to come.  It wouldn't shock me if, sometime over the next few years
2. Second, your site won't work on future mobile devices.  Hopefully, you know that your Flash website probably didn't work for many (if not most) of the people that came to your site via their mobile devices.  And while the old versions of Flash for Android will be around for a while, fewer and fewer devices, going forward will be able to see your site.
3. There are alternatives! Adobe has basically said that HTML5 is the solution.  Apple had decided this at the launch of the iPhone and this point formed the basis of a major disagreement between Apple and Adobe.  HTML5 gives developers the ability to recreate flash-like effects in your browser without the use of a plugin (i.e. Flash) and all major mobile devices (i.e. iOS devices  -iPhone, iPad, iPod touch, Android - phones and tablets) will be able to view it and support it.  The HTML5 suite of technologies will also let you run one site that is presented differently based on whether your visiting via a mobile device or a desktop. (Here's an example: http://kiosk.salvationarmycarolinas.org - view it in your phone and on your desktop).

It's in your best interest to start thinking about how you can transition your site to a mobile-optimized tool that your customers/visitors will be able to effectively use.   They'll thank you for it.