Just a day after Apple overtook Microsoft as the world"s most valuable tech company, the New York Post is reporting the end of Apple"s brief ego-trip. According to their sources, large media companies, such as NBC and Time Warner, have told Apple that they"ll be sticking with Flash for their online content. Apparently, changing their entire system to work with the iPad would be too costly. With Flash dominating the web, they don"t feel it to be worth their time and money.
Last month, in an open letter to Adobe entitled "Thoughts on Flash," CEO of Apple, Steve Jobs, made his point of view crystal clear. In his opinion, Adobe"s Flash platform is not suitable for their mobile devices and the company has, therefore, decided to push HTML5 as their preferred method for online media content delivery. Jobs has taken his stance so far, to the point where Apple no longer allows Adobe"s tools to be used in the development of iPhone, iPod, or iPad apps.
Other media companies, such as Disney and CBS, have accommodated Jobs on some level. Disney has created an iPad app, and CBS is trying to offer a limited number of shows via the iPad"s browser. However, news of media companies as large as NBC and Time Warner shunning Jobs and his radical approach can"t be good for the makers of the world"s most popular smartphone and tablet. It"s also not good for consumers, who, in the end, are the ones that lose out.