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.

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[gusapple]

Yay! (nobody can whine ANYMORE!)

 

[twoodcc]

i really hope this happens. somehow or another, we really need flash on the iPhone. hopefully either adobe can make it themselves, or apple will step in and help them.

where there's a will, there's a way.

 

[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!

 

[Krafty]

Awesome, looking forward to this.

 

[mrrydogg]

Looks like Adobe is accepting Steve's challenge!

If this launches on day one of the App Store it will be worth the wait.

 

[Sean7512]

Yay! (nobody can whine ANYMORE!)

Robust Exchange Support - Check
802.11x - Check
AIM/iChat - Check
Sweet Games - Check
Flash - Check
Java - Check
MMS - ????

They have one major item remaining before I stop whining! 😉

Edit: I haven't been whining, BUT I do think MMS should really be there!

 

[Small White Car]

Yay! (nobody can whine ANYMORE!)

Well, it'll have to be its own app. Like how if you go to YouTube in Safari it won't work on the iPhone, but if you go to the YouTube app it will work. Likewise, you'll have to go to flash sites in the flash app, and flash still won't work in web sites you visit in Safari.

So people who want flash that's in websites won't stop complaining since they'll still have to launch their flash app and go see flash content that way, then go back to safari to continue using the web.

I'm of the mind that flash on the iPhone doesn't matter, but I'm just pointing out that the people who are currently complaining will probably keep complaining.

 

[Chaszmyr]

The only way I could see Adobe making a worthwhile product to sell through the app store is if they had a whole web browser that had flash integrated that people could use in place of Safari. Since Adobe doesn't have their own browser, I'd think their best bet would be to release a webkit browser. Would Apple let them sell that, though?

 

[JayRx1981]

Even with licensing issues, I can see Apple letting this one slide. Getting fully featured Flash support on the iPhone would be a HUGE boon for Apple given the prevalence of flash media on the web. Same is true of Java, really.

 

[aznkid25]

sounds good. Now I'll be apple to get an ipod touch

 

[gusapple]

I'm of the mind that flash on the iPhone doesn't matter, but I'm just pointing out that the people who are currently complaining will probably keep complaining.

True. You can't teach an old dog new tricks.

 

[Small White Car]

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!!!

 

[JackAxe]

The only way I could see Adobe making a worthwhile product to sell through the app store is if they had a whole web browser that had flash integrated that people could use in place of Safari. Since Adobe doesn't have their own browser, I'd think their best bet would be to release a webkit browser. Would Apple let them sell that, though?

Adobe AIR has its own browser, which is also based on KHTML like Safari.

If they can't offer a plug-in for the iPhone's browser, than it would just be a stand alone player.

<]=)

 

[xUKHCx]

Yay! (nobody can whine ANYMORE!)

bold statement, there will always be something to complain about. Major one for me is 3G.

Once they develop it for the iPhone I can see them working with apple to have it integrated at a lower level than a normal application.

Once this is done apple can then start talking about the whole internet.

 

[queshy]

flash on iPt = bliss!

 

[fanbrain]

homestarrunner.com here we come!! HEEehheheahhee🙄

It will be interesting to see how Adobe/Apple will pull this one off. I hope it's not a fistfight.

 

[rainmanbk]

Even though I hate Flash (and Adobe), I'm glad Adobe is stepping up to address what some consider an incredible need. I would rather have the internet conform to real standards, not Adobe's, but at least this way the browsing experience will really be 'the desktop experience' assuming performance is good. Watching videos is the only real reason I think Flash is a good accessory, as 95% of video content on the web is delivered through some sort of Flash player.

 

[nagromme]

Most Flash is useless, but there are also many exceptions (games for instance) and it's not going away. If it can be done WELL for iPhone (performance vs. battery life) than I'm all for it!

As for restrictions and lack of Safari integration, Apple and Adobe may well come to some special agreement someday, rather than making this its own app.

 

[TEG]

People keep talking about the SDK restrictions, but they don't realize that a large enough company can get around that. Adobe will develop Flash for iPhone, Apple will integrate it into Safari and all will be well. Same goes for AIM on iPhone, Apple will relax the restrictions or integrate it into the OS.

TEG

 

[Small White Car]

As for restrictions and lack of Safari integration, Apple and Adobe may well come to some special agreement someday, rather than making this its own app.

This will happen if most iPhone owners download and use Adobe's solution. If everyone's using it then Apple will decide to integrate it.

If something like 5% of iPhone users download Adobe's flash app, expect Apple keep ignoring it.

 

[rainmanbk]

As for restrictions and lack of Safari integration, Apple and Adobe may well come to some special agreement someday, rather than making this its own app.

I agree nagro. I think that Apple has been waiting for Adobe to approach them. They will update MobileSafari and it will be free to all users. Yes you will install it though the AppStore, but access through Safari is obviously a no brainer. I don't see any other possible way of having a dedicated Flash app to work with all the scattered flash content on the web. It isn't like YouTube where the content is all in one place to begin with. People need to be able to browse and navigate to the content. Safari will be the path to the Flash.

 

[CoreWeb]

I think that perhaps this could mean Adobe Air, rather than Flash, for iPhone.

There are a few major problems, however, with developing Flash for iPhone. For example, think of all the banner ads which are done in Flash. The battery would be gone in a minute for any webpage!

But a far more significant problem is this: iPhone is a completely different beast than the desktop. iPhone's interface does not work the same way: for instance, how would Flash scrollbars work? With no stylus, it would be ridiculously difficult to use some user interface components unless they are completely rethought.

Simply put: normal Flash would not work on iPhone. There is no mouse (so no mouse move events, etc), and no real keyboard. The screen is much smaller. The entire scenario is completely different than the traditional desktop environment.

So, I think that Flash for iPhone will either be completely crappy, or significantly different from Flash on the desktop. Of course, they could surprise me.

 

[GQB]

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!!!"