Filed under: Apple, iPhone, iPod touch
Adobe points finger at Apple over Flash for iPhone
When a website requires a Flash plugin, it provides a link to a "Get Flash" page. From here and on most devices, you can download the appropriate version of Flash and be up and running in a few minutes. In the past, iPhone users have been greeted with a message that basically states that Flash is not available for their device.
A recent change, pointed out by GearDiary, shows Adobe getting a bit more snippy with Apple. The updated page now states that:
While this may not be "breaking news," it does say a number of things. For one, Adobe is clearly able to develop Flash for the iPhone and obviously wants to introduce it on the iPhone and iPod touch. This also shows that Adobe is very in tune of all the complaints and has redirected the blame to Apple."Apple restricts use of technologies required by products like Flash Player. Until Apple eliminates these restrictions, Adobe cannot provide Flash Player for the iPhone or iPod Touch."
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Reader Comments (Page 1 of 6)
Anthony said 11:32AM on 11-03-2009
Well with this hopefully Apple will finally do something.
:P
Reply
Bingo said 12:53PM on 11-03-2009
Screw that. I'm glad Flash is not on my iPhone. That technology is only good for serving ads that slow down my browsing experience.
PiperSon said 3:00PM on 11-03-2009
If this is true (and I can believe that it is given the state of some of the CS4 applications) then it might explain a few things:
http://adobegripes.tumblr.com/post/231806385/adobe-gets-bitchy-over-the-iphone-and-flash-bit
Mr Lizard said 5:13PM on 11-03-2009
They will - I suspect they will update Safari so that it redirects requests to the Adobe page to one of their own, that states that Flash is a battery draining, resource hogging, non-standards compliant plug in.
Cowicide said 5:33PM on 11-03-2009
To Bingo and udders here screaming about not wanting Flash on their iPhones. Clam it. If Flash comes out for the iPhone just don't INSTALL IT.
What are you control freaks worried about if others want to use it?
JUST DO NOT INSTALL IT IF YOU DON'T WANT IT AND QUIT WHINING
Jordan said 5:49PM on 11-03-2009
The funniest thing about this article is that it was reported on Engadget yesterday. The only difference was the picture they used accurately displayed the signal bar having 2 bars where as on the Apple blog they spruced it up with 5 bars to make it seem like the iPhone gets a good signal.
Martin said 6:13PM on 11-03-2009
@Cowicide: "JUST DO NOT INSTALL IT IF YOU DON'T WANT IT AND QUIT WHINING"
Well, the iPhone isn't really a platform where you have a choice on things like this. It's not like it would be an App in the store you download. It'd be part of the overall system. Hopefully it will come with an off switch though.
@Jordan: Or, you know, they could have just browsed to the page themselves and taken a new screenshot with 5 bars. It's not top secret. Here's some other things that are different:
- Time
- 3g versus Wifi
- Battery level
(01) said 6:43PM on 11-03-2009
How about Adobe fixing flash on OSX? If that happens I may have some faith that they can port it to the iPhone.
Kelmon said 3:17AM on 11-04-2009
@(01)
Give this man/woman/fish (*delete as applicable*) a prize. In a nutshell, this is precisely why Adobe Flash isn't available on the iPhone - Adobe have never been able to make it work under OS X. I have a 2.33GHz Core 2 Duo MacBook Pro and Flash consumes approximately 120% processor time just to playback a low-resolution YouTube video. Under no circumstances would I want to bring code that requires so much resources to do so little to a mobile device. Can you imagine what this would do to your browsing experience and battery life?
I have a lot against Adobe Flash but it is a fact of life and therefore I would like access to Flash content on the iPhone but it has to be done in a way that is appropriate and, right now, I have absolutely no faith that Adobe has a solution that wouldn't destroy the user experience.
Information Central said 6:24AM on 11-10-2009
The last thing anyone should do is encourage more shitty Flash-based Web sites.
Nothing marks a company as amateur-hour like another cheeseball Flash site, with stupid transitions, noises, and "Loading..." banners every time you try to navigate.
But actually, it's worse than amateurish; it'll cost you business when mobile users can't find your locations or phone number from their cars, because all that is buried in a stupid Flash animation. Flash is what hack designers use to impress ignorant company decision-makers in a conference-room demo.
Use standard Web presentation technology, and fight to advance it; stop wasting time bleating over proprietary Macromedia horseshit that lingered way longer than it should have.
adam shiver said 11:34AM on 11-03-2009
Please Apple, keep Flash OFF of my iPhone.
Reply
Jason said 11:39AM on 11-03-2009
why? i haven't heard the other side, so i'm just curious.
Collin said 11:42AM on 11-03-2009
Keep flash off your own damn phone.
Jules Galagarza said 11:42AM on 11-03-2009
YES! No Flash on my iPhone! I don't always have my charging cable with me.
kmcgrady90 said 12:05PM on 11-03-2009
I agree. Safari on Snow Leopard crashes all the time on me because of flash. I don't need that happening on my iPhone. Even if they added it as an option it would still be bad. If Apple keeps it off the device web developers will start moving away from flash mobile sites.
Noah Ramon said 11:56AM on 11-03-2009
The Flash plug-in has, historically, been poorly written. It tends to use exceptionally abnormal amounts of CPU once loaded, and is EXCEPTIONALLY crash-prone, to the point that Adobe themselves suggests running Flash blockers to prevent crashes. Given that Adobe's given short shrift to the Macintosh platform for several years, many people are pessimistic that Adobe would create a version of Flash for the iPhone that won't generate incredible headaches.
That mass is ONE reason why I'm not looking forward to a Flash-encumbered iPhone.
mabhatter said 12:00PM on 11-03-2009
Why would Apple push HTML5 and push to obsolete MS IE dominance only to tie iPhone to the boat-anchor of Flash and closed Adobe programs?
The last several visible Mac exploits in hacker contests have been Adobe Flash plugins that are poorly written.. why contaminate iPhone?
iPhone safari uses a similar engine to desktop safari and HTML5 should be everywhere... Safari, Opera, Firefox... why do we NEED Flash to browse pages? We certainly don't need Video Pop-up ads!!!
Jordan said 12:39PM on 11-03-2009
"many people are pessimistic that Adobe would create a version of Flash for the iPhone that won't generate incredible headaches"
But those people will never know if they can or cannot due to Apple's arrogance and restrictive ways. What if Adobe released good flash for the iPhone, would you be bitching then? They've been able to do it for other platforms...maybe the problem with flash lies within OSX itself?
Wheels said 12:47PM on 11-03-2009
Plus, Apple doesn't want to open itself up to all the lawsuits, which allowing Flash on the iPhone would bring, due to users getting third degree burns because they wanted to watch a 3 minute Flash video while holding their phone in their hand. Good God. Outside of DVD encoding, the only activity that gets my Mini severely heated up is playing anything with Flash.
If Flash does come to the iPhone, Adobe should supply Ov Gloves to anybody who wants to install it.
Ryan Trevisol said 12:50PM on 11-03-2009
Sorry but mabhatter, did you just say you don't want Flash on the iPhone because you don't want Apple using Adobe's "closed" programs?
Just to be clear, we're talking about iPhone OS, one of the most notoriously closed systems, with the most mysterious and Machiavellian approval processes of all time.
FWIW, I think the real reason we don't have flash on the iPhone is because Apple wants a flash plugin that doesn't support flash video, to try to promote Quicktime over Flash.