Adobe has taken the gloves off on the fight to get Flash onto the iPhone. iPhone users who travel to sites that require Flash will get a direct message from Adobe saying that it is not their fault they cant view Flash content. The image (posted below) directly calls out Apple for "restrict[ing the] use of technologies" that are needed to view such content on the iPhone. There are a couple of possible reasons why Apple is restricting the use of Flash.
The first, and the most consistent, argument is that Flash will drain battery life. Apple likes to show off how long their batteries can last (see new uni-body MacBook and MacBook Pro) and would not want to jeopardize the iPhones battery.
A second hypothesis is that Apple may be working on its own mobile based Flash competitor. Apple knows that it has cornered the multimedia phone market and may want to try and push its own mobile Flash competitor on the back of the iPhone.
No one really knows what Adobe's motivation is, are they looking out for the general consumer or are they scared Apple may be developing its own competing mobile product? Regardless, Adobe is ready for a fight and doesn't mind putting the consumer in the middle.
Thanks for the tip Mephistopheles
Actually it started to go south a while ago. When Apple decided to do Final Cut Pro, Adobe removed Premiere from OS X. Since they Adobe has decided to release Windows versions of there other products, then release it on Apple.
I would still like it but only if it doesn't compromise the integrity of my phone.
Having said that, I would much rather have Flash lite than no Flash at all. But I'm not Apple and they clearly have higher standards than me
Having said that, I would much rather have Flash lite than no Flash at all. But I'm not Apple and they clearly have higher standards than me
This "stripped down" flash player is a fully functional flash 8/9 player , Flash 10 applications will load and run but some effects like AA and filters (which is a visual issue) will be ignored.
Don't try to put a pro apple spin on this , The light player is perfectly suited for mobile use and can run anything you throw at it including papervision 3d.
Last edited by bob21 on 03 Nov 2009 - 19:45
Besides, I already said I'd rather have Flash Lite than none. I don't know why you feel the need to argue.
Flash Light is perfectly caple of playing video and complex animations , Regardless of what delusions steve has about it
Having said that, I would much rather have Flash lite than no Flash at all. But I'm not Apple and they clearly have higher standards than me
All Apple are doing is leaving their customers in the mire, some support is better than none at all, because by having no flash at all, mobile safari actually falls further short of that 'desktop experience'.
However I have to disagree it will play anything you throw at it. Video sure, but I've made many flash websites that won't function properly under it. My main reason for wanting it is for navigating flash sites, watching videos is the least of my concerns as most sites offer iPhone versions already.
Agreed. Apple may make exceptional products, but they also make a fair number of boneheaded decisions such as not allowing Flash on the iPhone. Sure, it may be a performance hog, but most users will not be using Flash that often in order for battery life to be a significant issue.
Albeit with poor results.
See this review of Flash Lite running on the HTC Hero:
http://www.engadget.com/2009/07/23/htc-hero-review/
http://www.openscreenproject.org/
http://www.apple.com/feedback/iphone.html
And start an online petition and include a link to that as well.
The battery life argument is trash. When I run flash (or any media intensive application for that matter) I do not expect the battery to last as long as it does on idle. Perhaps Apple should ban games too.
Microsoft is also working on a Flash competitor (Silverlight) and has also cornered the PC market. I don't see them suddenly banning Flash without people crying anti-competitive.
The battery life argument is trash. When I run flash (or any media intensive application for that matter) I do not expect the battery to last as long as it does on idle. Perhaps Apple should ban games too.
Microsoft is also working on a Flash competitor (Silverlight) and has also cornered the PC market. I don't see them suddenly banning Flash without people crying anti-competitive.
Despite bundling an app to try and take control of the market, MS has failed to accutally take over many times with this tactics. In addition, if what I understand is true, Silverlight is a base technology of there cloud based initiative, and goes beyond the displaying of multi-media like flash does.
Just on my MacBook, I can tell there's a difference and it's obvious, because the CPU runs at 100%. Core 2 Duo, that is.
Try to run a YouTube video in fullscreen for instance, even on Windows, start Task Manager and see if there's a difference and a major system slowdown. The answer will be yes.
So yeah, it pretty much kills a battery. Now, if Adobe makes something really optimized and all, Apple will welcome Flash stuff on the iPhone.
The news post makes a blanket statement (with no source what-so-ever) that one of the reasons Apple is not allowing Flash on the iPhone has to do with battery life.
I do not think Apple ever made such a statement.
But that being said, I *think* Apple did mention something about battery life, but there may be other things too, I can't remember. However, it has to be something they look at right now, something that consumes as less battery as possible. Otherwise they might refuse.
Flash is a blight on the internet, i much prefer silverlight, it runs well on both Windows and Macs. I would like to see either HTML5 video coming into the mainstream or some other open platform.
If what steve jobs said is true they're refusal to allow Flash on their devices is down to pure stupidity and misinformation (lets dig up that post from last year)
His assumptions about the flash light player are total nonsense as i have just shown
What apple wants to do is force Adobe to develop an IPhone only flash 10 player , And that just isn't going to happen it goes ggenst the open screen project and Adobe's plan to release the fully capable mobile player when the new Targa chipset becomes widespread .
If what steve jobs said is true they're refusal to allow Flash on their devices is down to pure stupidity and misinformation (lets dig up that post from last year)
His assumptions about the flash light player are total nonsense as i have just shown
What apple wants to do is force Adobe to develop an IPhone only flash 10 player , And that just isn't going to happen it goes ggenst the open screen project and Adobe's plan to release the fully capable mobile player when the new Targa chipset becomes widespread .
Bow are you out the loop. HTML5 and open video is most exciting and dynamic turning point for the evolving web right now. Look into it - gone are the days of needing Flash and other proprietary plugins.
http://www.whatwg.org/specs/web-apps/curre...page/video.html
www.diveintohtml5.org
http://www.whatwg.org/specs/web-apps/curre...page/video.html
www.diveintohtml5.org
The only issue here is that HTML5 isn't a recommendation yet, which means that support is incomplete and subject to change, so for the time being at least, his point is still valid.
http://www.whatwg.org/specs/web-apps/curre...page/video.html
www.diveintohtml5.org
Wow i was happy with the latest ON2 and Sorenson codecs but now we can have a codec from 2001 and on-top of that the same fragmentation between browsers that plagues open frameworks .
Thanks but No-Thanks, Ill stick with flash because of the reasons mentioned above.
Call me in 2020 when HTML can generate a simple gradiant using code.
huh... looks kinda broken... im getting nothing but a grey background with whatever it is shoved off the upper left corner, and a message about the website cannot be displaed... does have a transparent blue box, tho...
It works fine for me in Firefox 3.5. And it is pretty neat. When you make a statement like that, it is often a good idea to specify what browser you are using so people can make a determination whether it is the page that is broken, of your browser.
The reason I always heard was because Apple disallows 3rd party apps from "interpreting" code. Apple sees Flash and Java as a way for an app writer to bypass Apple's App screening process.
It's exactly why flash CS5 is going to be able to make Apps but not just support them inside safari, it lets them keep control over how much it costs you to do anything on their platform and get a piece of every $ spent.
There are no iphone friendly flash websites so any major flash content would look bad on the iphone anyway,
It's much better having an app (e.g.. Youtube.)
There are no iphone friendly flash websites so any major flash content would look bad on the iphone anyway,
It's much better having an app (e.g.. Youtube.)
The only time I've ever wished my iPhone had flash was when I was wanting to watch a south park episode from southparkstudios.com. Other than that, sites that are 100% flash are idiotic. And I definitely don't miss flash ads with annoying sounds while surfing the web on my iPhone.
They could simply launch Flash as it is now and then update it later. Apple knows the drill pretty well regarding software and hardware updates.
As for Apple launching their own Flash competitor, I just don't think they really have the clout to do that. I'm sure I'll get heat for it, but Flash is huge. In order for them to launch a competitor, they would have to get websites to use it too. Microsoft's having a hard enough time with Silverlight (Which beats Flash in many areas), and they have a lot more market penetration. I just don't think Apple could pull it off...
I vote apple changes its name to App$e
I vote apple changes its name to App$e
It doesnt work the same way....
Maybe Appl€
Commenting has either been disabled on this article or you are not logged in. Click here to login or register, its free!
Note: Anonymous commenting is disabled in order to keep the quality of responses to a high standard.