Adobe Bringing Flash to the iPhone

[MacRumors]

Adobe made comments today that they will be delivering a Flash client for the iPhone. According to Adobe's Chief Executive Shantanu Narayen, Adobe has downloaded the iPhone SDK and is planning on building a Flash Player for the iPhone and distributing it via Apple's online store.

"We believe Flash is synonymous with the Internet experience, and we are committed to bringing Flash to the iPhone," Narayen said. "We have evaluated (the software developer tools) and we think we can develop an iPhone Flash player ourselves."

The news comes a few weeks after Apple's Steve Jobs stated his reasons why Flash is not available for the iPhone. Jobs claimed that Flash Lite for mobile was not full featured enough, while the full version of Flash would not run well on the iPhone. Other reports have claimed the core issue preventing the release of Flash for iPhone is a licensing negotiation between Adobe and Apple over the iPhone's PDF renderer.

It's not clear how exactly Adobe would bring Flash to the iPhone, as there are several restrictions in the iPhone SDK that could prevent its release.

Article Link

[gusapple]

Yay! (nobody can whine ANYMORE!)

[irun5k]

This is going to get interesting, with the likes of Sun and Adobe attempting to fill gaps that were intentionally created by Apple.

Do guys like Adobe get assurances that their player will be allowed in the store? Creating the player isn't trivial, even with an existing code base. It isn't a weekend project.

If Apple starts rejecting apps, I smell law suits. The courts may end up having to decide what fits within the SDK agreement and what doesn't. Let us hope it doesn't come to that!

[Small White Car]

Originally Posted by irun5k

If Apple starts rejecting apps, I smell law suits. The courts may end up having to decide what fits within the SDK agreement and what doesn't. Let us hope it doesn't come to that!

Yeah, just like how Nintendo and Sony got sued for saying what can and can't be written as games for their games systems...

Oh, wait. That didn't' happen 'cause it's not illegal!

[icanhasiphone?]

HALLELUJAH!!!

[queshy]

flash on iPt = bliss!

[GQB]

Originally Posted by irun5k

This is going to get interesting, with the likes of Sun and Adobe attempting to fill gaps that were intentionally created by Apple.

Do guys like Adobe get assurances that their player will be allowed in the store? Creating the player isn't trivial, even with an existing code base. It isn't a weekend project.

If Apple starts rejecting apps, I smell law suits. The courts may end up having to decide what fits within the SDK agreement and what doesn't. Let us hope it doesn't come to that!

The model is specifically set up to do exactly that! Reject bad apps.
And if Apple has a right to reject anyone, its precisely competitors such as Sun and Adobe. Apple may indeed allow java (yecchh) or Flash (ibid) on the mobile platform, but if they do, it won't be because they're somehow legally obligated to 'LET US PLAY IN YOUR YAAAAARRRRDD!!!"

[ruinfx]

one previous thread about flash with the majority of the posts along the lines of "good im glad there will be no flash for the iphone, i dont want it!" blah blah "adobe makes crap!".

now its announced adobe will be making some type of flash for the iphone and the majority of posts are positive!

rofl how quickly the tune changes. boggles the mind.

[christopher3071]

Finally, now all we need is MMS (kinda) and 3G (more so)

[BillyShears]

Originally Posted by ruinfx

one previous thread about flash with the majority of the posts along the lines of "good im glad there will be no flash for the iphone, i dont want it!" blah blah "adobe makes crap!".

now its announced adobe will be making some type of flash for the iphone and the majority of posts are positive!

rofl how quickly the tune changes. boggles the mind.

Maybe:

1. There are different people posting different opinions
2. People are happy they can install Flash, but also that it doesn't come standard

[MattInOz]

Originally Posted by ruinfx

one previous thread about flash with the majority of the posts along the lines of "good im glad there will be no flash for the iphone, i dont want it!" blah blah "adobe makes crap!".

now its announced adobe will be making some type of flash for the iphone and the majority of posts are positive!

rofl how quickly the tune changes. boggles the mind.

No we all still think that, but this way abode can sink lots of money in to it.
Most people will be use the mobile web not having it and never miss it.
Websites will gear MobileWebVersion not to use it and not miss it.
The minority of people who think they need it will get the standalone browser off apps store half will stop using after a week, the rest after a month.

All will be well.

[frankly]

Originally Posted by ruinfx

one previous thread about flash with the majority of the posts along the lines of "good im glad there will be no flash for the iphone, i dont want it!" blah blah "adobe makes crap!".

now its announced adobe will be making some type of flash for the iphone and the majority of posts are positive!

rofl how quickly the tune changes. boggles the mind.

It boggles my mind how you make the HUGE assumption that these posts are being made by the same people. Is it not possible that there is still a large group out there that are glad there is no flash and that the people who are posting positively now were not happy before???

If there is one thing you can count on from the Internet, it is broad generalizations and conclusions made without evidence

[/dev/toaster]

Apple has ever right to reject apps as they see fit. If you don't like it, you can still develop your app for Safari on the iPhone.

I don't foresee any lawsuits against Apple on this. Honestly, if anyone did try to sue Apple over this, they will lose.

This is very different then developing for a console or desktop system. Apple is under contract obligations to protect AT&T and other carrier networks. Its a very different world.

[Tres]

$10 says this is going to run like absolute **** and drain the battery dry in record time.

[jmadlena]

Steve said there was a missing piece, a product that just wasn't there.

I know this isn't a new thought on MacRumors, but I think Apple is working on their own Flash equivalent. Apple doesn't like the amount of control Adobe has over the internet-media market, and the second class treatment Mac OS X gets when it comes to Flash products. Flash on Mac OS X sucks, in my opinion.

Since web developers want to make sure that their sites work with the iPhone, they are already in a position to do some remodeling anyway; they might as well use Apple's Flash-equivalent. Everybody wants their site to look great and work well on the iPhone.

I think we will see a Flash equivalent come WWDC (even if it is pretty simple). It will be aimed at the mobile market, but positioned to grow into the desktop market as well. WWDC is before the iPhone 2.0 firmware release, so it will be a perfect time to beat Adobe into the internet-media market on the iPhone.

[MagnusVonMagnum]

Originally Posted by /dev/toaster

Apple has ever right to reject apps as they see fit. If you don't like it, you can still develop your app for Safari on the iPhone.

I don't foresee any lawsuits against Apple on this. Honestly, if anyone did try to sue Apple over this, they will lose.

This is very different then developing for a console or desktop system. Apple is under contract obligations to protect AT&T and other carrier networks. Its a very different world.

Personally, I think you're wrong. I think if taken to the Supreme Court, Apple (and any other company including Nintendo inside the US) will lose their shirt in regards to this matter of restricting what can run on a publicly available platform. In other words, it comes down to if it's my computer, I can run whatever I want on it. PERIOD. Contracts, protecting $$$ partners, etc. is irrelevant. It's a publicly available platform. It's a computer (even if a mobile one). Software runs on computers. No company has the right to restrict software on a publicly available platform. If they don't want someone to run software on it, they should NOT release it for sale to the public. It's THAT SIMPLE.

If you don't agree or don't like it, I don't care. It WILL be fought sooner or later and they will lose because SOCIETY is ultimately what matters and countries like the US are SUPPOSED to protect the citizens of their country, NOT legal entities like corporations. And that will continue to come to the forefront as people get sick and tired of corporations controlling their lives, getting tax perks to move jobs overseas and generally ruin people's lives over making more profits for a select few shareholders. If the Supreme Court does their job and protects "We The People" and NOT "We the privileged few" then Apple would LOSE. Imagine if all the printing presses refused to print anything except what some big corporation wanted. Imagine if the Internet only allowed select people to have access or WRITE data (e.g. post mesages, host sites, etc.) Imagine trying to justify that because some companies own the ISPs and all agree you shouldn't have access unless you're on their approved list. Imagine if that approved list didn't includes certain ethnic groups, certain political affiliations or certain financial classes. But it's OK because they own the servers you use. They don't HAVE to allow you to use it! That's called discrimination and it's ILLEGAL. I don't see not allowing software on a publicly available platform as being one bit different. If I buy a product, it's my right to use it as I see fit. And that's a fair use issue that is going to continue to get worse as time goes on and companies try to force you to do only what they want as part of the contract or license agreement. Things like copyrights are privileges. They exist so someone can make money off their ideas. They were never designed so companies can control every aspect of your life.

It should not matter whether the software is Windows or MacOSX or PalmOS. If it's sold to the public for public usage, it should be open to the public for public usage. It's one thing to charge to use something like AT&T's network. It's quite another to say certain people aren't ALLOWED to use their network because they're not on our 'approved list'. And THAT is what Apple is doing. They can say we don't want certain apps on OUR STORE, but they cannot then in turn say you can ONLY USE OUR STORE. That's then discrimination and it should be fought, IMO. And no, I don't think someone like Nintendo should be able to do that either. Ultimately, Apple will have problems as they get more popular because they are trying to control both the software AND the hardware. Microsoft keeps getting into trouble for just ONE of those. It's only a matter of time, really....

[MacTheSpoon]

Huh, interesting. I wonder how this will work. In any case, it's cool they're going to try something.

[PhotoPhoenix]

geez, all these advancements are really making me question if i want to drop verizon and switch to at&t just for the iPhone. expensive but...it's becoming worth it.

[stagi]

I think I have only went to one site on my iphone that used flash, most of the sites I go to are basic sites or rss feeds so don't think flash is that big of a deal.

[specops]

LET ME JUST SAYYY YEEEEEEESSSSSSSSSS!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!! HOOOOOHAHHHOAOAHAHAHOWEIUROIfhewapohapewro
higap;erdiahwe;piohap;rsiofaspodfiahbse;pifhaeswpi!@O:ihawoeiutq3049753-0p4w8yfgadsv9uihq4wep[8092uy3982wyurf

[Aldyn]

ohhhhhhhhhh nice.

although this shouldve been there since the start.

[asleitz]

Great. The iPhone is missing so much content from the web without flash support. I'm glad to see Adobe develop flash support for the iPhone. It just makes my browsing experience that much better. That's my 2 cents.

[BrownManUPS]

I don't know why Steve seems to be half submissive in his comments when it comes to Flash, you'd think a huge amount of people would die over the opportunity to take other video enabled websites, and other purely flash animated pages on the go. It is true there are problems, but at least Steve should come out and say that he supports what the CEO has now decided to do.

Why can't everyone be friends?

[stevearm]

Microsoft getting Flash... people here shout abuse and say it's stupid and they dpn't want it on the iPhone anyway.

iPhone gets Flash... and suddenly those same people are going on about how amazing it will be and getting excited.

[bytethese]

About effen time!

I love how the iPhone commercial talks about buying a car and looking up pricing on the iPhone. Well, half the manufacturers use Flash to "Build and Price" on their websites, maybe I don't want to go to cars.com. Would be nice to play some flash games too!