(Image courtesy of Engadget)

That sure was quick: It appears that Adobe has thrown in the towel on further investment in their iPhone-specific Flash developer tools, before they’re even released.

According to Engadget, Adobe’s Flash Packager for iPhone -- which converts Flash applications into iPhone ones using something out of the black arts (we suspect) -- has had a screeching halt in its development cycle and the company won’t be throwing further financial resources at the project.

As you’ll recall, one of the new developer rules in the iPhone OS 4.0 SDK forbids the use of code written with non-approved tools -- which certainly includes the bad magic that Adobe hoped to unleash to its Flash developers to help them port their Flash apps over to the iPhone OS.

Rather than fight a losing battle with Apple, Adobe has effectively waved the white flag in surrender. Principal Product Manager Mike Chambers announced that, while the Flash Packager for iPhone will still ship as part of next month’s Creative Suite 5 as planned, they won’t continue to throw money down a black hole by developing it any further.

Meanwhile, Adobe will continue to hammer away on the Android front and shift their attention to other, less-hostile mobile platforms. We’re guessing this isn’t going to help get the Adobe Flash Player on the iPhone any sooner, either…