The victory of HTML5 as the dominant mobile platform became inevitable last year or even earlier, but still looked as though it would be a gradual process. However, its progress has accelerated, despite lingering battles (such as the Google-Apple dispute over codecs), and now even Adobe has waved the white flag. The Flash company has been investing in HTML5 and preparing itself to coexist with the newer system all year, but its new restructuring ditches mobile Flash altogether after the forthcoming new release. That changes the battle lines once more when it comes to the all-important area of cross-platform development. A powerful, if ageing, contender is removed, confined to the desktop henceforward. Java, Silverlight and others still hang on, but…