Filed under: iPod Family, Rumors, iPhone
Flash coming to the iPhone after all?
The iPhone Flash saga is a long-running show. First Adobe said they were going to do it come hell or high water, then they backed off, then Uncle Steve seemed to put the kibosh on the thing permanently. Now, however, Bloomberg is quoting the Adobe CEO as saying that "It's a hard technical challenge, and that's part of the reason Apple and Adobe are collaborating. The ball is in our court. The onus is on us to deliver."The surprising part there is the admission that Apple is working with Adobe on the project. It didn't seem like Jobs was at all receptive to the idea back in March of last year, but maybe a new iPhone-specific Flash player could avoid the pitfalls of the resource-hogging desktop version on the Mac, while still maintaining enough power to surmount the objections to Flash Lite. I have to admit that I'd love to go straight to Hulu or Sling for streaming video on the iPhone, but given their record on the Mac desktop I'm a little skeptical that Adobe can deliver a good solution.
[via AppleInsider]
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Reader Comments (Page 1 of 3)
reallycrazyguy said 1:40AM on 2-01-2009
The only people really gnashing their teeth at the lack of Flash support on the iPhone are...Adobe! They have to be desperate to Flash support on the iPhone, because it has to kill their ability to sell Flash servers and developer tools, none of which work at all with the hot new device, the iPhone.
I, for one, am glad that Apple has been pushing web developers to use standard internet formats, like HTML, AJAX, XML, etc. instead of proprietary, single-vendor "solutions" like Flash or AIR or SilverLight.
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Brandon said 1:42AM on 2-01-2009
Flash in OS X does not work that well.
Granted, this also has to do with the integrated graphics on my Macbook, but every time I go to a flash site my computer's fans go nuts.
Quite annoying actually.
I wouldn't have bought this macbook if I had known it would go off like a race car all the time.
My old crappy toshiba doesn't even make that much noise.
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LDMartin said 7:36AM on 2-01-2009
Flash also tends to make the fan on my unibody kick with every browser I use... It's a seriously painful "solution": I'll be happy with standards, happier when html5 is finalized.
John.B said 11:13AM on 2-01-2009
Exactly. If Adobe can't get Flash for OS X right, how do they expect to do an iPhone version that doesn't suck?
BTW, integrated graphics has nothing to do with it. My friend's iMac has a dedicated graphics card and Flash pegs the CPU on that too.
Joshua Ochs said 1:54AM on 2-01-2009
No, we won't see Flash on the iPhone for those two obvious reasons:
1) Apple has no interest in allowing Adobe to continue to dominate the web, and with WebKit has every reason to push open standards - it benefits them.
2) Flash on the Mac is wretched. It performs exceptionally poorly (Windows on the same hardware is just fine), and crashes constantly. Mac developers that embed WebKit have to constantly filter their bug reports for Flash, as it accounts for the vast majority of crashes in anything using WebKit.
Good riddance to Flash, and in many respects, good riddance to Adobe. They were recently compared to Microsoft in the Word 6 era - very apt.
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oliver hart said 9:55AM on 2-01-2009
Wrong. This is happening. I don't know why there's a ? at the end of the headline but the head of macromedia isn't going to say "were working with apple on a flash player", and have it not be true. Apple could squash the "rumor" right now. THIS IS ALL BECAUSE OF THE PALM PRE-APPLE NEEDS COMPETITION AND IS FINALLY GOING TO GIVE US WHAT WE DESERVE.
And just because flash sucks on a mac desktop doesn't mean it's going to suck on a apple handset.
Patriks7 said 11:18AM on 2-01-2009
"And just because flash sucks on a mac desktop doesn't mean it's going to suck on a apple handset."
I have a feeling he was trying to say indirectly that they should fix the desktop one first..
oliver hart said 5:15PM on 2-01-2009
"no we wont see flash on the iphone"
thats what he said. there will be flash, and for all the people that think its a bad idea, im sure theyll implement an on/off switch like they have for java, plug-ins, and block pop-ups.
and i hate to sound like a broken record, but when (if?) the Pre is released it will def make apple re-think just how unimportant things like flash, mms, multiple programs running at the same time, push, etc are. a lot of people are saying if a gsm version of the pre is sold, theyd jump ship on the iphone in a heartbeat. and i think that speaks volumes for something that isnt even being offered yet.
however, like me, ill never abandon my iphone. even if apple never gives us the things we want/need. so i guess i digress...
TylersPage.net said 2:02AM on 2-01-2009
Yay!!! I don't care if it's slow... ever try flash on a PSP???
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Neil said 2:44AM on 2-01-2009
I don't miss flash today and I sure don't miss all the flash-based ads everywhere.
After 6 months with my iphone I still haven't felt that the lack of flash is a problem.
85% av all flashcontent is ads, 10% av poorly designed apps that shouldn't have been released in the first place and the rest are games ... I don't need another app that'll drain my battery.
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DVD Guy said 3:20PM on 2-01-2009
Flash has forever changed the way the internet looks and feels. To debate about Flash's "usefulness" is moot, clearly, with market saturation being over 70% 4 year ago Adobe Flash or Macromedia Flash, whatever you want to call it, is much of the internets lifeline. Without it, interactive content would be javascript and DHTML frame by frame code snippets that are both hard to write and flesh out, especially for creative non-coders. To those who claim it is buggy on MAC OS X, I am running a G4 400Mhz on 10.3.9 and it works fine (as an example run PHOSPHOR the first person shooter built in Shockwave on a PC of similar specs). However, if I have more than one browser running Flash content there is a slowdown, but who can complain at 400mhz, most of you commenting on how bad it is probably have the newest macs. I have no "fan issues" on my Aluminum 15" G4 from 4 years ago visiting heavy flash sites.
Flash Web DVD Guy
protoactive.com
eboku01 said 3:10AM on 2-01-2009
you guys are fun bunch!
YTMND and Newgrounds on the go, yes please.
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Beaverius said 4:58AM on 2-01-2009
Don't forget hulu! Although I'd be happy if there was a hulu.com app...
henk duivendrecht said 5:51AM on 2-01-2009
The fact that flash has been abused for countless terrible banner ads doesn't say anything about the platform itself. Do you really think banner ads wouldnt' exist if flash didn't exist?
Just look at the app store now, it's filled with the same 80% of crap as most flash sites and games.
But working with apple's developer tools and policies at least forces developers to adhere to some coding standards and making efficient apps, which adobe doesn't do. Hence the many, many SWF's that'll let your mac fans spin like crazy.
Also, many creative designers who dabble with actionscript haven't gotten into using the much more memory efficient AS3 and keep using code from the long gone timeline/tween era.
Being a flash developer myself I can hardly see a reason for Apple to allow a flash environment on their phone, but on the other hand, browsing the web just doesn't seem complete without SWF content. There's just too much of it around.
Maybe the SWF player on the iPhone will become an app like the youtube player. You'll be able to play SWF's only if you really want to, by pressing a play button inside the SWF?
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Benjamin said 7:33AM on 2-01-2009
I would like to see a good flash implementation on OS X first, get your priorities right!
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toopropa said 10:21AM on 2-01-2009
I agree. This Eco system is built Around OSX. Any solution from adobe should work in the apple eco system. I agree also that after using my iPod touch I have ( to my surprise ) not missed Flash at all.
yellowmello said 8:24AM on 2-01-2009
I do not want flash on the Iphone! Please keep the iphone light and zippy.
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Cowicide said 8:56PM on 2-02-2009
I really doubt you'll be forced to install Flash. Relax.
tester said 8:19AM on 2-01-2009
check out
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=SdsNEdcONwI
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Squeak said 8:44AM on 2-01-2009
I love the iPhone, but if you enable flash your battery life
wil dwindle to near nil after visiting a couple sites.
So maybe the new iPhone will include the 17" Macbook pro batteries?
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