Adobe resumes efforts on Packager for iPhone

You are correct about something. The code is NOT the issue. It is the developer. A developer that understands UI design and the language in question can make good apps.

But the best developers also know that the best results come from using the best language. iOS doesn't natively support Flash which means that any app based on Flash will require some kind of translator to function. A translator that can easily be broken by a change in the iOS code. And with Adobe in control of the translator, developers will be on their schedule to fix the breaks so they can fix their apps.

Now if Adobe made a tool that would take Flash and create native code out of it, there would be less of a worry

Why am i not excited about this? Is it because this will saturate the market even further and we need to look out for poor ports now too? *sigh*

I hope Apple marks the apps that come from this app as "compiled with Adobe Packager" or something. THen i know what to avoid.

@Beenyweenies: I'll agree that pretty much any native app could be recreated in Flash, but you're dreaming if you think it could be done faster than in Xcode with Cocoa Touch/Objective-C.

The exception: 2D/sprite-based games. You'd probably be able to crank out one of those pretty damned quick in Flash CS5, and there are certainly a ton of them on the app store. But if the game goes much beyond 2D/sprites, Flash loses the edge again.

First of all, once the apps are approved you will not be able to tell the difference if it were made in Flash, Xcode, or any other third party.

All, you will know if it is a cool app or crappy app.
You can't judge an app by the "color of their skin".

@Perspective:

Could you expand on your comments to be more specific? What "lowest common denominator" do cross-platform apps rely on? I see Flash-bashers say stuff like this all the time, but as someone who develops for both Flash and iOS, your comment doesn't make sense - and is (as usual) not backed by any concrete examples.

How many of the 250k "native" apps have you deemed worthy enough to actually download, much less pay for? Most people have maybe 20 apps installed on their device, and surveys show most people use an app a few times at most. These stats speak volumes about the true quality and utility of the existing "native" offerings so Flash-bashers need to get off their high horses and quit fronting.

In the end, it COMPLETELY, 100% depends on the application being built. A skilled Flash developer could recreate 75% of the app store apps with Flash, in 1/4 the time it takes to build those apps using Objective-C, and no iPhone/iPad user would be able to tell the difference in the end product. For those other 25% of apps that really leverage the OS, Flash is not a good solution and no one is suggesting otherwise.

I don't get this decision at all. I would have thought that Apple took all the heat they were going to get back when they made this decision in the Spring. I feel like the rest of the tech world moved on and Flash Developers could take iOS development as a hard line in the sand, but one Apple chose to make.

Why change their decision now? After all of the flack Apple took when this first came out? What about Jobs' "Thoughts on Flash" letter about intermediary platform development tools disrupting the progress of the iOS platform. Was that all BS?

I'd love to know what others think of this.

It's funny how the vitriol towards Adobe and Flash was virtually non existent on these forums until Steve Jobs went on his public tirade.

Just goes to show how useless fanboys (of any product) are. Do ANY of you have a unique thought in your head to share? When pressed to back up their hatred, most Flash-bashers can only recite the same tired, debunked garbage over and over like little robots.

Jordan:

Cross-platform apps will generally be of lesser quality than platform-specific apps because cross-platform apps inevitably rely upon the lowest common denominator. Yes, if a great developer puts a lot of effort into an app it may be fine, but the whole point of cross-platform tools is to eliminate the need to perform platform specific programming; if you honestly believe that coding an app once and compiling it for multiple platforms will result in an exceptional app on each platform you need to re-evaluate.

Regarding Redcard's comments to you, I don't necessarily agree with what he wrote, but he did not stereotype Apple users; he stereotyped Apple haters. For example, he didn't say Apple users were thin; he said haters weren't. From this, you took "Apple users are thin," either because you're not very smart, or because you wanted to make a point. At any rate, relax.

@jordan, so how much does adobe pay you and joanna d to troll tech blogs and bitch and moan in favor of their garbage?

They only one who needs to get over their hate seems to be you, kid.

If think you got too fat to own Apple products. That's why you're so bitter; you gotta wear the big slacks and the oversized t shirts to hide the gut.

You're a good example of someone old and jaded, and whose best days are behind them