Filed under: OS, Software, Internet Tools
Adobe speaks up about Flash on the iPad
The iPhone and iPod touch haven't run Flash natively in the years since their respective debuts, and it's pretty clear based on Steve Jobs's presentation yesterday that the iPad won't run Flash, either. When scrolling through the New York Times's main page, for example, where Flash ads or video might have been there were instead broken LEGO icons, big as life on the screen at the keynote.Predictably, Adobe isn't happy about this, and is accusing Apple of "continuing to impose restrictions on their devices that limit both content publishers and consumers." They go on to say that without Flash support, "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."
Let's work backwards from this. First of all, I'd be very interested to see where Adobe got those percentages. Apparently YouTube now accounts for a mere 25% of video on the internet? As for Hulu and a few of the other specific sites mentioned in Adobe's rant, now that Apple is in the business of selling content, exactly how is it in the company's best interest to provide access to that same content, through another company's platform, for free? And as far as games are concerned, once again Apple has this covered, through the App Store. Far from being limited, content publishers and consumers will merely have to adjust to a new method of publishing and consuming content: one that doesn't involve Adobe in any way.
I know anecdotal data is the worst kind there is, but in nearly a year of using my iPhone to connect to the internet, not only have I not missed Flash, I've been glad it isn't there. Flash's performance on Mac OS X is so abysmal that when YouTube announced an opt-in HTML5 beta to replace Flash, I bounced up and down in my office chair in glee. I can only imagine the bag of hurt that would be introduced if Apple let Flash run on its mobile devices.
If you want to know why Flash doesn't run on the iPhone, the iPod touch, or the iPad, why Flash will never run on those devices, and why that's a really good thing, check out this piece by Daring Fireball's John Gruber. One of the key points of Gruber's argument is that Flash is, by far, the biggest source of application crashes in OS X. Flash crashes so often that Apple's engineers went out of their way to create a new mechanism for running plugins in Snow Leopard; in 10.6, Flash runs as its own process rather than being lumped in with Safari, meaning than when (not if) Flash crashes, it doesn't bring all of Safari down with it. Considering Flash's poor stability and fan-blasting, CPU-hogging performance on the Mac, gee, why wouldn't Apple want it running on their mobile devices?
Want to see something that "imposes restrictions on content publishers and consumers?" Look no farther than Flash itself. According to the company's own (possibly made-up) numbers, 70% of games and 75% of video on the internet is all shuffled through one company's proprietary plugin. I don't know about you, but that sounds awfully restrictive to me. It seems like a really bad idea to let a single company have that much control over the creation and delivery of the internet's content, don't you think?.
With the iPhone and iPod touch we already have tens of millions of mobile devices owned by tens of millions of highly satisfied consumers, and not one of those devices runs Flash. With the advent of the iPad, we can expect millions more mobile devices to hit the market, and none of them will run Flash, either. Thanks to YouTube and vimeo, HTML5's star is on the rise for delivering free video content on the internet, and the App Store has gaming covered. There's no telling what the internet will look like in ten years, but one thing appears certain: if things continue as they have, Adobe will no longer have the stranglehold over video and gaming content that it enjoys today.
[Via Engadget]
![TUAW [Cafepress]](http://www.blogsmithmedia.com/www.tuaw.com/media/tuaw-cafepress-promo.png)
Reader Comments (Page 1 of 13)
Nick Van Eyck said 10:51PM on 1-28-2010
Kinda, but there's still not an actual *good* reason for them not to on the iPad (or at least have it as an option) especially given the fact that their main point for no flash iPhone/iPod Touch was battery (hint: neither of those have a 25wHr jammed in there)
Reply
santaklause said 12:59AM on 1-29-2010
Apple may be the best tablet for now, but seeing it, lacking some core-features, makes a user want to think twice before buying this one.
I guess, its Sans the GPS/Flash/Camera makes it a real Turn-off for aspiring buyers to get this one. On the brighter side, at least the price isn't
that much steep, although I doubt that users would buy the 500 USD 16GIG iPad -- To think that its capacity is not expandable, meaning
you're going to spend your days with that limitation.
More details: http://bit.ly/ipad-details-under-examination
timdojo said 1:16AM on 1-29-2010
Simply put, I want the freedom to do what I want on my iPad. Apple could (at the very least) provide the OPTION to turn flash on/off. All of this "apple is trying to protect the consumer from big bad flash" stuff is annoying, and the fact that a tablet as beautiful as the iPad STILL can't truly show me a full webpage is seriously disheartening.
rhodesy22 said 6:18AM on 1-29-2010
But it comes with GPS :S
SIP said 10:09AM on 1-29-2010
Propaganda and misinformation... "sans GPS"...
The non-3G *has* (non-Assisted) GPS, the 3G version has AssistedGPS.
Apple wants to make sure that its mobile devices are able to provide the best user experience, no matter the type of connection (WiFi/cellular), and it thinks that the user-experience will be seriously hampered by Adobe Flash, so Apple chose to omit Flash altogether.
If you can't live without Flash, buy something else.
Kovah said 12:57PM on 1-29-2010
And that limitation you are talking about is a part of the deal when you buy it. You could also _not_ buy the iPad and go for other alternatives that let you use Flash.
Apple has made a decision considering the long history of evil the Flash has given their core OS. And decided not to support it, which is in their total right. You can still use the iPad like you want, but you can't expect Apple to help you achieve that.
Charli said 12:50PM on 1-29-2010
Gruber has given (as the article notes) the best reason.
Adobe has not bothered to make a Mac version of Flash that doesn't suck up system resources and not crash. On a computer that is bad enough. On a mobile device, it could bring everything done.
Had Adobe committed to fixing the issue with Flash for Mac, Apple would be willing to play ball. But Apple strives to watch out for their customers so a condition of them having Flash on said devices was "It has to actually work" but Adobe just stuck their fingers in their eyes and yelled Meanie.
wosuh said 10:54PM on 1-28-2010
are you from Apple or hired by Apple?
if not, i do not understand you why you are defending Apple like this. Flash contents are just as good and beneficial to end users as HTML5 contents.
Apple's blocking Flash is for its own profits and marketing scheme, which isn't good to the end users. why should be blocked from enjoying the full potential of the internet including Flash contents?
Reply
Sam said 11:03PM on 1-28-2010
How can you say Apple's blocking flash because their own profits when it's been proven (and anyone can tell as a mac owner) that it doesn't run well on apple software? Sure it's a key point but blocking flash isn't just for profits... Saying that I would assume Apple didn't really make a hard try to put flash on the iPad because of the free content vs content you buy through apple's way.
Jason Stiles said 11:21PM on 1-30-2010
@wosuh
I completely agree. This comes off as lame PR speak. "Why should apple let you go watch video for free on hulu when they are trying to sell it to you?"
I'm an Apple fan boy, but the company can and does do wrong, and in this case they are restricting access to competing technologies to force people to purchase media through them. If Microsoft was doing this, there would be an effing uproar!
Frankly I am seeing more and more of this biased reporting on TUAW recently and it is really starting to turn me off to the site. I remember a recent article mocking the Palm Pre reaching 1000 apps. I remember not to long ago Apple was the little guy and people talked about all the apps in MS land, and we all said, our apps are better at what they do. They are quality apps. We don't need truck loads of junk.
Now that apple is big time and has truckloads of junk these writers turn into the kind of douches that we always hated when we were the little guy.
Get over yourself Chris Rawson. I'll tell you something. Apple was number one long ago and managed to F it up, so just because were all big in the pants now doesn't mean you should be blowing wind up Apples butt telling them what they want to hear and defending their bad decisions. I don't care if this is the UNOFFICIAL apple weblog. It is your job to hold apple to task, not be their lap dog.
Chris Rawson said 11:31PM on 1-28-2010
@Jason
I don't remember reading anything about "taking Apple to task" in the contract I signed. Just something about reporting Apple news and rendering opinions, which is what I've done.
Like I told someone else on here, this is less about me being Apple's "lap dog" and more about me supporting a company's decision to not support a crappy, kludgy, horrible plugin like Flash -- a plugin which can't die quickly enough for me.
Amit said 11:50PM on 1-28-2010
@Chris
Flash maybe a "crappy, kludgy, horrible plugin", but its a fact that there are just too many sites that use it and to have the best and complete web experience, I need the ability to browse Flash content too.
Flash is here now...HTML5 still has a long way to go...maybe it will get there by end of this year or next year. So since the iPad is here now, it would be more sensible to include support for a format which is already prevailing right now than ignore it just because there is an upcoming format which will take its place in a year or 2.....we can let the iPad v2 worry about that.
wosuh said 12:04AM on 1-29-2010
@Chris
a crappy, kludgy, horrible plugin would never have been installed on almost all computers in the entire world in the first place.
we cannot help but question your motives when you fail to see the obvious fact - iPad with Flash would be more beneficial to the end users, much more.
above all, if Flash is really as bad as you claim, i would still like to be able to make the choice myself, instead of being robbed of it by a major corporation.
Chris Rawson said 12:09AM on 1-29-2010
@Amit
Lots of people lost their minds 12 years ago when iMacs shipped without floppy drives. "OMG how will I ever get anything done without a floppy drive?" many asked. No one uses floppy drives anymore.
The iPhone/iPod touch/iPad don't support Flash. "OMG how can you have the internet without Flash?" people ask. 12 years from now, no one will use Flash anymore.
This will sound like more fanboyism, but sometimes part of innovation means identifying something that doesn't work properly or isn't strictly necessary and excising it from your product. This may or may not be one of Apple's motivations for leaving Flash out of its portable products, but in the end it doesn't matter. If we just throw up our hands and say, "Whelp, this is it. Flash is everywhere, so I guess we'll just stick with it," we're not going to get anywhere, are we? Someone has to be the first to say, "Er, no. How about we do something else instead?"
rawrawrawr said 12:31AM on 1-29-2010
"The iPhone/iPod touch/iPad don't support Flash. "OMG how can you have the internet without Flash?" people ask. 12 years from now, no one will use Flash anymore."
But in the 12 years between now and then, you're going to have a gimped internet experience. Don't get me wrong, I'm no fan of flash, but there are so many websites that use it to such an extent that they are near impossible to use and navigate without flash.
To continue with your Floppy Disc analogy: Floppy Discs were rendered obsolete by better technology, and hopefully Flash will be as well in the future, but would you honestly suggest it be a wise idea, in the time in which Floppy Discs were the predominant means of portable storage, to build a computer without a Floppy Drive, because the Floppy Disc is an imperfect system?
Aaron said 12:40AM on 1-29-2010
I think Wosuh made a good point. If Microsoft were to use its position to decide what users of its products should or shouldn't need, blogs like this would tear them to shreds.
I like my Macbook because I decide what I want to use on it. If I want to opt in to the HTML5 version of YouTube, I can. If I want to watch Hulu, I can. It's my computer. I don't want Steve Jobs to be my father and teach me the lessons he thinks I need to learn. I want a device that works with what most websites have to offer.
I don't believe Apple is motivated by trying to bring about change to the internet. I believe they want users to have to purchase content through iTunes. Period.
One of the quotes during the iPad introduction had to do with bringing the customer what he or she wants, not forcing a product on a customer. By creating a product that steers customers to one place for media consumption (iTunes), I feel forced.
I love my iPhone, and I love my Macbook. I just can't see any compelling reason whey I need an iPad, especially when it's internet experience would resemble that of my phone rather than that of my computer.
punkassjim said 12:47AM on 1-29-2010
Actually, @ rawrawrawr, I'd say you're right on the money: Flash has INDEED been rendered obsolete by a better technology. Go to a web development conference, and ask everyone to raise their hands if they put any critically-important content in a Flash wrapper anymore. That sh*t is on its way OUT, and it needs a f*cking PUSH. Everything that can be done in Flash can indeed be done with standards-compliant, non-proprietary methods TODAY.
In the time that the iPhone OS has been on-market, HUGE leaps and bounds have been made in the realm of standards-based web innovation. And I am truly of the opinion that the iPhone has been a real catalyst. There has been a real gold rush to get web sites and web apps optimized for iPhone, and it has helped contribute momentum to the already-fast-moving web standards movement. It's been an exciting few years to be a web developer.
And yes, I am a Flash developer. And I can't wait for that sh*t to DIE.
Chris, I applaud your opinions, and your sticking to them. Kudos.
nothingreal said 1:17AM on 1-29-2010
Two points --
- Flash is a horrible memory hogging annoyance that needs to be put out of it's misery.. With that said it's also a sad reality of the internet in 2010.. so much so that even in Job's keynote - which one assumes was meticulously planned - not one, but several lego bricks appeared.. the problem really doesn't illustrate itself more clearly than this..
- This no-flash stand has nothing to do with Apple's margins (unless you count idiotic conspiracy theories).The one product in Apple's stable that _isn't_ profitable is the App store - it's basically break even. The truth is much more pedestrian.. Apple views flash as an un-necessary complication that will be nothing more than a foot note in the future and is as buggy as a roach motel right now. They simply aren't going to burn calories allowing it to 'infect' their pristine products. (tongue in cheek)
IMHO What apple needs to do is break bread with Adobe and come up with a compromise.. something on the order of a Flash 10 build for the iphone OS which can be disabled, fail independently without crashing the browser or blocked like clicktoflash. I think it will be to the benefit of both companies -- Adobe would have Flash on the most popular smartphone platform and Apple would be able to say "see.. _that's_ why we didn't want flash on this thing, now disable it and stop looking at stupid banner ads"
(incidentally my phone is now the nexus one and the one thing that i have come to dislike about it is Flash .. I really just want a flash blocker at this point)
sinX said 1:20AM on 1-29-2010
If flash ran as smooth as java it would be in, I'm pretty sure of that.
Kelmon said 7:59AM on 1-29-2010
I am honestly STUNNED that anyone would write to defend Adobe Flash on an Apple-centric web site. I can only assume the likes of wosuh have never used a Macintosh on the InterTubes otherwise they would not be complaining about the lack of Flash on the iPhone or iPad. When the damned plug-in uses up 120% processor time on a Core 2 Duo processor for nothing more than a normal YouTube video, you know it's not ready for a mobile Macintosh. If Adobe let Apple have the source code to Flash (which probably will never happen) so that Apple can sort out the problems, then we might see Flash on Apple's mobile devices. In the meantime, not having Flash on an increasing number of web-enabled devices will only accelerate the switch by content publishers to web standard technologies that EVERYONE on any platform can access without being beholden to Adobe. Remember, it wasn't that long ago that Flash was not even available for Linux.
Basically, I am in complete agreement with Chris but I can appreciate a degree of frustration about Flash not being available because there is a lot of Flash content available. However, if I was particularly bothered about having access to as much content as is possible then I would not have bought a Mac to begin with...