Adobe clears up likelihood of Flash for iPhone
While a recent news report stoked anticipation that Apple's iPhone SDK would at last allow for a native version of Flash, Adobe has since said that a solution won't be as simple as suggested earlier this week.
The software developer issued a statement to the press on Wednesday which dampened the high expectations set by a Wall Street Journal account of an Adobe financial conference call, which claimed that the SDK alone was enough for a native version of Flash. A fully functional version that ran within a web browser would require far more integration than the SDK allows, the company says.
"Adobe has evaluated the iPhone SDK and can now start to develop a way to bring Flash Player to the iPhone," the statement reads. "However, to bring the full capabilities of Flash to the iPhone web-browsing experience we do need to work with Apple beyond and above what is available through the SDK and the current license around it. We think Flash availability on the iPhone benefits Apple and Adobe?s millions of joint customers, so we want to work with Apple to bring these capabilities to the device."
The statement reinforces the design limits set forth by Apple for its development kit for its handheld devices, which have so far complicated Sun's Java development as well as hopes to bring a host of other programs to the device. The iPhone maker currently restricts any third-party software from running in the background or launching executable code of its own, both of which pose immediate problems for an embedded program such as Flash.
Apple has also been selective about which features of its devices can be integrated with outside apps and has reportedly blocked access to music functions entirely for anyone but itself. A Flash application usable from its normal home on the web would require direct access to Safari and the ability to run side-by-side with Apple code.
Regardless of technical capabilities, Adobe has yet to overcome resistance from Apple chief Steve Jobs. The executive quashed short-term hopes for a Flash add-on to the iPhone by rejecting the idea of direct ports of either Flash Lite or a full desktop Flash port, alternately calling them too limited and too slow to work properly with the iPhone's hardware and software.
The software developer issued a statement to the press on Wednesday which dampened the high expectations set by a Wall Street Journal account of an Adobe financial conference call, which claimed that the SDK alone was enough for a native version of Flash. A fully functional version that ran within a web browser would require far more integration than the SDK allows, the company says.
"Adobe has evaluated the iPhone SDK and can now start to develop a way to bring Flash Player to the iPhone," the statement reads. "However, to bring the full capabilities of Flash to the iPhone web-browsing experience we do need to work with Apple beyond and above what is available through the SDK and the current license around it. We think Flash availability on the iPhone benefits Apple and Adobe?s millions of joint customers, so we want to work with Apple to bring these capabilities to the device."
The statement reinforces the design limits set forth by Apple for its development kit for its handheld devices, which have so far complicated Sun's Java development as well as hopes to bring a host of other programs to the device. The iPhone maker currently restricts any third-party software from running in the background or launching executable code of its own, both of which pose immediate problems for an embedded program such as Flash.
Apple has also been selective about which features of its devices can be integrated with outside apps and has reportedly blocked access to music functions entirely for anyone but itself. A Flash application usable from its normal home on the web would require direct access to Safari and the ability to run side-by-side with Apple code.
Regardless of technical capabilities, Adobe has yet to overcome resistance from Apple chief Steve Jobs. The executive quashed short-term hopes for a Flash add-on to the iPhone by rejecting the idea of direct ports of either Flash Lite or a full desktop Flash port, alternately calling them too limited and too slow to work properly with the iPhone's hardware and software.
Comments
BRING YOUR CS3 SUITE TO COCOA AND WE'LL BRING FLASH TO THE IPHONE/IPOD TOUCH.
mmmk.
... That doesn't mean others don't want to play Scrabulous with their friends. ...
I keep hearing this remark about Scrabulous in the context of Flash on the iPhone over and over again, but if ever there was a use of Flash that is both inappropriate and completely unnecessary Scrabulous is it.
If a simple scrabble game can't be coded with plain old Javascript, Ajax and HTML then the designers really just aren't trying. Add HTML 5.0 into the mix and it could easily look much better than the current Scrabulous game and work faster as well. If the makers of scrabulous weren't already tied up in a law-suit for stealing the game in the first place, they could code an iPhone version *without* using Flash in a weekend if they tried.
Take away the horrible advertisements and the use of Flash for videos, and most of the time you won't miss Flash at all. Safari already supports video embedding right in the HTML and Firefox 3.0 (already in beta), and Explorer 7.0 will as well. There is just no real need for Flash.
Here is one clue ADOBE:
BRING YOUR CS3 SUITE TO COCOA AND WE'LL BRING FLASH TO THE IPHONE/IPOD TOUCH.
mmmk.
++++ awesome
Fraking Indesign cashes like crazy. Now it's started to delete my preferences too.
I couldn't see myself getting an iphone or itouch. Doesn't seem like the real internet.
If you want to see "not the real internet", spend some time with Windows Mobile. Then get back to us.
If you don't want Flash on your iPhone, fine. I'm sure it'll be optional. That doesn't mean others don't want to play Scrabulous with their friends. I'm so tired of folks responding to every flash-on-iPhone story with how much they hate flash. Why do you even read the story then?
Could it be because Flash tends to be crash prone?
Could it be that we are sick of crappy bloated software from Adobe?
Could it be because Adobe has for a long time time now made Mac users second class citizens?
Could it be that it's because we are just plain sick of Adobe's incompetence?
I don't know.
Before anyone says, No way!, one must consider that Jobs never said that Flash wouldn't come to the iPhone/iTouch. He just said that current implementations wouldn't work.
That could have even been an impetus to Adobe to start cracking on new code, something they seem very interested in doing.
Before anyone says, No way!, one must consider that Jobs never said that Flash wouldn't come to the iPhone/iTouch. He just said that current implementations wouldn't work.
That could have even been an impetus to Adobe to start cracking on new code, something they seem very interested in doing.
When I read between the lines what is see him saying is this: "I'm glad current implementations of Flash will not work on the iPhone and I'm going to make sure it never can."
Seriously! Apple is all about user experience, while Adobe is all about me, me, me and to hell with user experience. It's two completely different ideologies.
Flash is annoying. It's main use is for pushing advertisements into your face. That, and busy, clumsy websites that break the conventions associated with normal HTML pages. Flash be gone and die already.
I couldn't see myself getting an iphone or itouch. Doesn't seem like the real internet.
Ah ah ah Flash sucks hard. If Adobe/Apple port it to iPhone good, but i can live without. And i think Apple has the right to block things like Flash and Java apps. Just write it for iPhone/iPod touch and bring it to iTunes App Store. Anyway i hope to see a Safari Flash plugin for iPhone.
This updated article is no surprise, because as I've said in the earlier thread, Adobe would work with Apple.
Before anyone says, No way!, one must consider that Jobs never said that Flash wouldn't come to the iPhone/iTouch. He just said that current implementations wouldn't work.
That could have even been an impetus to Adobe to start cracking on new code, something they seem very interested in doing.
Yes, Jobs said that the Flash was to big, and Flash-Lite basically didn't do enough, and what was needed was 'someting in between'.
- so maybe Apple would be amenable to an Abobe Flash-Lean-but-not-too-Lite?
Could it be because Flash tends to be crash prone?
Could it be that we are sick of crappy bloated software from Adobe?
Could it be because Adobe has for a long time time now made Mac users second class citizens?
Could it be that it's because we are just plain sick of Adobe's incompetence?
I don't know.
100% agree!
what else should we expect from a company that outsourced its coding to India?
They can't even get web 2.0 applications running adequately on their media $erver.
And those that said I was wrong, and that they COULD go forward.... well.... I told you so.