One feature that has long distinguished Android from iOS, the support of Flash, is going away for third-party browsers.

Adobe (News - Alert) announced that the next version of the Android operating system, Android 4.1, code-named “Jelly Bean” will not support Flash.

"From what we understand from the announcement, no browser will be able to support Flash on Android 4.1 and above," Jonathan Nightingale, senior engineering director at Mozilla (News - Alert) Firefox, told PCMag.

Apple had already famously banned Flash from the iPhone, citing performance concerns with the popular plug-in that powers sites like YouTube (News - Alert).

Now that neither major platform will support Flash, the race is on to build interactive content in HTML5, which Adobe says already has 80 percent of Flash's features implemented.

The World Wide Web Consortium (W3C (News - Alert)) has ranked the most popular mobile browsers for HTML5 compatibility. Google's own Chrome, which will replace Metro as the default Android browser, comes out on top with 369 out of 500 points. Opera Mobile 12 comes in second at 367, which Firefox 14 comes in at 311. The stock Android browser score 281, while the Maxthon Android Web Browser came in one point behind. The iOS version of Safari score 324.

The announcement comes not long after Mozilla announced the release date of its own standalone mobile operating system, Firefox OS. The OS will be released in early 2013 in Brazil, appearing on phones by TCL Communication Technology and ZTE.

“The introduction of the open mobile OS continues the Mozilla mission to promote openness, innovation and opportunity on the Web for users and developers. As billions of users are expected to come online for the first time in the coming years, it is important to deliver a compelling smartphone experience that anyone can use, Gary Kovacs (News - Alert), Mozilla CEO, said. “The large number of operators and manufacturers now supporting this effort will bring additional resources and diversity to our global offerings.”

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