With the internets all a-flutter over Mac OS X 10.5.2 arriving on the scene, this tid-bit is in from GearLive -- yes, the very same folks who brought us news of the jiggly icons on the iPhone that we were somewhat doubtful of.This time around, GearLive is reporting that we can expect to see Flash on the iPhone (and one would assume, iPod touch) 'very, very soon'. No doubt, that brings joy to many people's lives -- Flash has long been one of the most in-demand additions to the iPhone -- but some of us Flash cynics can't help but feel that for Flash sites whose usability is perhaps compromised on the desktop, we're happier with it staying off of our handheld devices.
Flash gripes aside, chatting with Andru from GearLive tonight they're mighty confident of their sources and have a good track record. Let's just see how this one runs, shall we?
Reader Comments (Page 1 of 3)
2-11-2008 @ 8:38PM
lilguy said...
i for one do not want flash on the phone. pages load so much more quickly.
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2-11-2008 @ 8:58PM
Colin said...
Don't worry. If Flash really does come to the iPhone, I'm sure we will have an option to toggle Flash off just like we can with Java.
2-12-2008 @ 12:46AM
Marcos said...
Uhm... the iPhone does not have Java.
2-12-2008 @ 9:38AM
Cameron Campbell said...
Marcos, he didn't say there was.
2-12-2008 @ 10:03AM
scott said...
He probably meant JavaScript, which you can indeed disable.
2-11-2008 @ 8:39PM
erik said...
FlasH FTW!
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2-11-2008 @ 8:42PM
Aloysius Snuffleupagus said...
Sounds great. Now all I need is copy & paste.
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2-11-2008 @ 8:52PM
David Chartier said...
If this happens, I will certainly be seeking out firmware builds that omit the Flash application and libraries. Flash performs like shit on desktop computers and chomps through batteries like candy. I'll tolerate that on the few sites I *need* to on a desktop because I can usually plug into a power source. But I'm not letting Flash gobble up my iPhone battery in a half hour while I'm out 'n about for the day.
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2-11-2008 @ 9:02PM
Bender Bending Rodriguez said...
Agreed. Though I do like Anonymous' idea below of allowing you to turn it off.
Still, if it's there then sites may feel they can still go heavy with Flash.
Adobe doens't have a decent version of Flash for Intel/PPC OS X or the ARM platform, so I say it will not be coming to the iPhone anytime soon.
2-11-2008 @ 8:55PM
David Hildreth said...
total flash sites are pretty lame, but it would still be nice to have
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2-11-2008 @ 8:56PM
anonymous said...
this would only be worthwhile if it could be deactivated from the settings menu
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2-11-2008 @ 9:00PM
wayne said...
Good article funny I reported this yesterday on twitter, from a confirmed flash developer not only flash support but sling media is coming out with an iPhone app too.
http://twitter.com/waynesutton
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2-11-2008 @ 9:01PM
Neil said...
If this was a new version which supported BBC iPlayer then I would be very, very excited indeed.
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2-11-2008 @ 9:02PM
Yves Custeau said...
I hope that this flash player will support Adobe Flex !!
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2-11-2008 @ 9:09PM
jasonkulas said...
Flash...yuck. Used mostly for flashy, slow-loading, hard to navigate sites that are full of "pretty junk" and very little content. No thanks.
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2-11-2008 @ 9:29PM
Vipul Delwadia said...
What about video? Just about every story with embedded video is flash.
I agree flash for navigation or the entire page is bad, but face it, almost all embedded video these days is flash (and mostly not youtube).
2-11-2008 @ 9:37PM
Tyler Darko said...
it sounds good but the only use i would have for it would be for video sites besides youtube and dailymotion.
Hulu on my ipod sounds sick
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2-14-2008 @ 1:13PM
Sam said...
I'll finally be able to play Scrabulous on Facebook on my Touch!
2-11-2008 @ 9:49PM
Victor Agreda Jr said...
David, precisely right. Every time my wife plays a Flash-based game on her MacBook, it sounds like a 747 taking off. Maybe once an iPhone or two explodes in someone's hands like a firecracker without a fuse, it'll spur Adobe to make a less craptacular version of Flash. Still hard to believe there was a version on Sony Clie's all those years ago (tho it never made it to Palm Inc's devices, go figure).
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2-12-2008 @ 2:15AM
russ d said...
Hmm. My macbook never gets the fans when playing Flash games, or even when running Flash CS3. After Effects, now thats a different story.