Hulu Developing Non-Flash Player for Deployment on iPad?

I can predict exponential growth in Hulu's viewership if they did this.

Sweet. YouTube and Hulu will start the content migration away from Flash. It won't happen to the rest of the industry overnight, but other options will emerge! But, Hulu is also looking at paid memberships, like the NYT. Frankly, if the price was reasonable ($20/year) I'd be on board.

Awesome. I knew it would just be a matter of time. I wonder how they are going to DRM their videos? Apple’s not going to give them FairPlay.

People can criticize Apple's decision not to support Flash -- but, the reality is that places like Hulu.com and other flash-based content providers are in a business. They don't have loyalty to Adobe or to the Flash format, they have loyalty to profit and bottom lines.

If they can increase profit by putting their content in an iPad / iPhone friendly format, they'll do it. With the current "win" streak Apple has been on with products, I think you'll find that a great many people don't want to be left on the outside looking in when it comes to having their content available on the iPad.

Jobs understands this, which is why his / Apple's decision not to support Flash is really a non-starter.

This is the biggest thing for the iPad (and iPhone) possible. The ability to watch TV wherever whenever is huge! This alone will convince many people to buy an iPad way more than if it had a camera or any of the other stuff people are complaining about (although that wouldn't hurt either)

Just imagine an iPad commercial with people watching TV on their iPad in the car or on the train...

YAY! Get Flash the F outta here!

jaw04005 said:

Awesome. I knew it would just be a matter of time. I wonder how they are going to DRM their videos? Apple’s not going to give them FairPlay.

Click to expand...

They might not bother... my understanding is that it's not that hard to record the Flash content, if you really want to do it. But I don't personally know anyone who bothers....

This would be amazing. But honestly. Hulu won't play nice with Boxee and other clientside tools trying to pipe its content to places other than the traditional web browser. I'm not convinced Hulu will do this anytime soon. Not until it jacks up the new subscription service.

Hulu has to see that there is going to be a demand for Hulu on the iPad. And that the iPad itself is going to see in large demand.

I'm assuming that if this non-Flash version works on the iPad, it should also work on the iPhone/touch. That would be great news. I have not enjoyed not being able to watch hulu on my iPhone. That would be great at the gym on the treadmill....

Yay! Death to the Flash scourge!

Good article except for last line.

Hulu needs the iPad a lot more than the iPad needs hulu.

How about Hulu detach from ALL Flash on ALL platforms and just do HTTP Streaming of H.264!?! Come on, I believe in you! -- Richard Simmons

But . . . but . . .

. . . but Adobe told us that the iPad would be useless without Flash! Could it be . . . could it possibly be that perhaps Adobe had an ulterior motive for saying that? No, no -- I couldn't be that cynical.

Seriously, though, it just goes to show you: success breeds success. Hulu, just like every other developer, smells money in the iPad, and they don't want to be left behind. Any video site that cares about income from mobile devices will have a non-Flash alternative up and running ASAP.

As a video player, Flash is soon to be ancient history. And good riddance.

Sick!

That would be awesome.

Download the shows you want to see the night before (if you can/want to), or just stream it, and check them out whenever on an iPad using the Hulu app!

Insanely great!

Eddyisgreat said:

I can predict exponential growth in Hulu's viewership if they did this.

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And I can predict an exponential growth in the iPad's market share. It would be great to be able to watch Hulu in bed on the iPad, rather than having to use a laptop.

zakfox1986 said:

This would be amazing. But honestly. Hulu won't play nice with Boxee and other clientside tools trying to pipebots content to places other than the traditional web browser. I'm not convinced Hulu will do this anytime soon. Not until it jacks up the new subscription service.

Click to expand...

I'm inclined to agree. We need to remember that these decisions rest with the TV networks and they are generally not forward thinking. Apple surely have a lot more sway than Hulu developers and most other companies selling services and devices, so maybe they can get it on there.

this is all good. i cant wait until its ready.

i would also like to know who voted negative on this story. this site should show who rated good or bad if that person also post in the thread.

That's all I need to decide to buy one.

if Hulu comes to the iPad I am sold, it is 80% of the flash I actually use... I dont care about flash in my browser, honestly keep it out... now if ESPN makes a custom tailored site for this thing to eliminate the other 20% of my flash needs Ill buy one at launch with my tax return cash...

This is good news. YouTube has already made moves in Apple's direction for iPhone. And now YouTube is working on HTML5. http://www.youtube.com/html5

I would not be surprised to learn that Hulu is similarly looking to capture iPad/iPhone eyeballs for its advertisers.

html5?

Excellent news, provided they don't start charging

Will be interesting to see how ATT and/or possible future providers of wireless for the iPad react to the ability of the iPad/touch/iphone to watch hulu. It's one thing watching youtube over these networks... it's completely different watching high quality hour long TV shows.

Definitely good news, although I can't help but wonder if the iPad would actually provide a superior Hulu viewing experience than a notebook. More versatile and portable, maybe.