The actual quote from Mossberg is much more polite than the submission title would suggest: "I have yet to test a single [Android phone] where Flash works really well. I’m sorry. They struggle on those Android devices."
I have yet to test a single [Android phone]
Ok, cheap shot, but I really think he's not actually tried it on high end phones with reasonable flash apps that are designed for mobile use. Yes, if you go to cnn.com which fully expects to be running on a desktop it stutters. It stutters on some desktop computers too. But go to the mobile games sites that specialize in Flash games for phones - and many of them are great.
I hear that argument a lot, but I've never found myself where a kludge of a technology really saved the day. I lump it with the web browser on the Kindle where the idea of having it available is much more interesting then even the desert island use of the tech.
> The value proposition Flash has is that we allow people to author programs once and get them to as many devices as possible
He says "devices", clearly indicating that he is arguing the value proposition is to deploy across multiple phone (or mobile device) platforms, not some kind of write-once-run-anywhere proposition that works across desktop and mobile.
In this interview from last year he states [1]
"The world is emerging where there are multiple devices [...] to access the internet
Mobile devices are certainly a big part of it, tablet devices will be a part of it, televisions and PCs..."
the more these platforms adopt flash, they won't have to do anything else. It will just work"
Seems pretty clear to me.
[1] http://www.flashstreamworks.com/archive.php?post_id=12726539...