It wasn’t long after Apple began showing off the iPad that the realization was made that the device would not support Flash. This is a devastating blow to any consumer who was hoping to get the device and be able watch Hulu or use any other Flash based application on their couch.
Adobe has responded to the lack of Flash support and is blaming it all on Apple as it was their choice to not include the technology. Adobe, via Gizmodo, is stating that:
“It looks like Apple is continuing to impose restrictions on their devices that limit both content publishers and consumers. Unlike many other ebook readers using the ePub file format, consumers will not be able to access ePub content with Apple"s DRM technology on devices made by other manufacturers. And without Flash support, iPad users will not be able to access the full range of web content, including over 70% of games and 75% of video on the web.
If I want to use the iPad to connect to Disney, Hulu, Miniclip, Farmville, ESPN, Kongregate, or JibJab — not to mention the millions of other sites on the web — I"ll be out of luck.
Adobe and more than 50 of our partners in the Open Screen Project are working to enable developers and content publishers to deliver to any device, so that consumers have open access to their favorite interactive media, content, and applications across platform, regardless of the device that people choose to use.”
Flash is known to be a resource hog but Apple doesn’t even give the consumer the option to enable or disable the technology. Not every consumer will be looking to achieve a full 10 hr battery life especially when used in the home. Hopefully Apple will open the iPad up to allow the consumer to choose battery life or Flash, but it’s more likely that HTML 5 will be the future for web videos on Apple’s devices.