Adobe Has 'Moved On' in Dispute With Apple Over Flash on iOS Devices

[MacRumors]

Telegraph.co.uk publishes an interview with Adobe CEO Shantanu Narayen in which he discusses his company's long-running dispute with Apple over the device maker's decision not to include support for Flash in its iOS devices such as the iPad, iPhone, and iPod touch. In the interview, Narayan appears to note that Adobe has given up on its efforts to convince Apple to adopt Flash.

They've chosen to keep their system closed and we'd rather work with partners who are interested in working with us.

We believe in open systems. We believe in the power of the internet and in customers making choices and I think a lot of the controversy was about their decision at that point. They've made their choice. We've made ours and we've moved on.

It's a business decision. With the energy and innovation that our company has, we'd rather focus on people who want to deliver the best experience with Flash and there are so many of them.

The dispute between the two companies came to a head in late April when Apple CEO Steve Jobs posted an open letter describing his "Thoughts on Flash" and outlining the controversy from his point of view. Narayan quickly responded in his company's defense, attempting to contrast Apple's "closed" ecosystem with the multi-platform, "open" stance taken by Adobe.

The U.S. Federal Trade Commission and the European Commission are currently pursuing an investigation of Apple over its business practices with respect to Flash technology.

Article Link: Adobe Has 'Moved On' in Dispute With Apple Over Flash on iOS Devices

 

[stridemat]

Does this mean they are going to slow down or stop altogether the development of the flash plugin for OS X? I know the article suggest for iOS but you never know.

 

[Žalgiris]

I just saw a pig fly by.

 

[mediaboy]

Just put out an app on Cydia. It's officially a legal portal.

That'll stick it to Apple.

 

[mccdeuce]

Flash is a closed source product. Adobe needs to acknowledge that they bought a dying product and cut losses. While flash has its uses still - html 5...

 

[swb1192]

Sadly, I think Adobe is envisioning a future where Android rules and iOS is forgotten. Therefore, they don't see any point in fighting for iOS flash.

Just another sign that iOS vs Android are the new Windows vs Macintosh.

Windows sucks, but it was licensed onto many computers and widely adopted. Macintosh was better, but it was stuck to its own hardware.

So disappointing.

 

[juicedropsdeuce]

jonny ive

Apple will rue the day, something tells me.

 

[MacLawyer]

Adobe "moved on" from Apple a long time ago.

 

[Neotyguy40]

Hah! Try telling the ARM community that you're 'open' Adobe! I won't believe it until we get 10.1 version of flash for ARM computers for free!

Seriously Adobe, your products are some of the most closed out there.

 

[nagromme]

If Flash can be done so it performs fast, doesn’t drain the battery, handles click-vs.-mouseover intuitively, and doesn’t throw monkey wrench into Apple’s own future OS updates, then I’ll support Adobe in this. (But I’ll never pretend they’re “open”—in fact, Apple’s Flash-less Webkit browser IS very open.)

Since none of those are the case, however, it’s one “freedom” I don’t want

I DO want Adobe to make truly outstanding HTML 5 tools. I can see that happening eventually—but it will take a while. (Although I’m a Flash developer, I wouldn’t even consider Flash to be a truly outstanding Flash tool )

Does this mean they are going to slow down or stop altogether the development of the flash plugin for OS X? I know the article suggest for iOS but you never know.

No. Developers/advertisers would stop using Flash, because they’re not willing to give up the Mac segment of the user base. Adobe’s not that stupid. And they’ve been actually improving Mac Flash lately. (VERY late.)

 

[eng42ine]

Here we go again, now Apple is going to say that they are open and would if Adobe would adopt and open platform...

 

[Edmoil12]

@Flash

Don't let the door hit you on the way out. Hopefully they continue to make flash ads which are nice and invisible with iOS.

 

[GSPice]

..we'd rather work with partners who are interested in working with us.

lol who wouldn't..

 

[Orange™]

Cowards!!!

Yeah, you'd better run!

 

[mccdeuce]

Sadly, I think Adobe is envisioning a future where Android rules and iOS is forgotten. Therefore, they don't see any point in fighting for iOS flash.

Just another sign that iOS vs Android are the new Windows vs Macintosh.

Windows sucks, but it was licensed onto many computers and widely adopted. Macintosh was better, but it was stuck to its own hardware.

So disappointing.

As much as I love Apple, and think a lot of the iPhone 4 issues are media driven - you could make the argument that iPhone 4 is kinda like the release of Windows Vista - a little premature. Personally still use my 3Gs and Vista was a lot worse - but even my 3Gs is now a bit buggy.

 

[Small White Car]

The whole thing's so stupid. Most of the world knows that Flash has a 5 year shelf life and Adobe thought it had 10. (And, of course, Apple is early at cutting things. Don't mind them. It's just what they do.)

So that's what the whole stupid argument is over...the difference of a few years. This was never a "should flash live or die?" argument. It was always a "how long does it have left?" argument.

Rather than dragging it out, Adobe should instead be pressing ahead on new tools to create tomorrow's media. THAT'S what they do...they write software. Stop complaining about the world changing, write some software, and profit from it.

The whole flash debate is a distraction from what Adobe should be doing. Hopefully this is a sign that they're starting to wise up.

 

[cult hero]

Adobe believes in open? HA!

What a joke. Adobe believes in pseudo-open and only when it benefits them financially.

 

[SeattleMoose]

Selling Bloatware

is a tough business. I guess you keep looking for suckers until you tap them out.

 

[MacFly123]

Sadly, I think Adobe is envisioning a future where Android rules and iOS is forgotten. Therefore, they don't see any point in fighting for iOS flash.

Just another sign that iOS vs Android are the new Windows vs Macintosh.

AMEN! I have been saying this for soo long now! It is literally like watching history repeat itself! But this time Apple has learned its lessons, and there is more than one Microsoft haha!

BB and Symbian will fade, Android will stay, and probably WP7. To me WebOS with HP/Palm is the real wild card and potential competitor to the iOS platform!

Adobe: "We believe in open systems."

I am SOO SICK of their BS propaganda! FLASH IS CLOSED, stop trying to turn the argument back at Apple by twisting the truth because they didn't want to waste time supporting your crappy tech!

 

[Wurm5150]

Adobe Needs to Stop Using the word OPEN...

Adobe needs to stop using the word OPEN.. they're just as closed and proprietary as Apple. Apple is pushing for HTML5 which is open and now some people are bashing Apple for not supporting a close system like Flash. The hypocrisy indeed..

 

[swb1192]

As much as I love Apple, and think a lot of the iPhone 4 issues are media driven - you could make the argument that iPhone 4 is kinda like the release of Windows Vista - a little premature. Personally still use my 3Gs and Vista was a lot worse - but even my 3Gs is now a bit buggy.

Definitely media driven - 100%. I bought an iPhone 4 for my girlfriend and it has NO problems. At all.

 

[mBox]

Sadly, I think Adobe is envisioning a future where Android rules and iOS is forgotten. Therefore, they don't see any point in fighting for iOS flash.

Just another sign that iOS vs Android are the new Windows vs Macintosh.

Windows sucks, but it was licensed onto many computers and widely adopted. Macintosh was better, but it was stuck to its own hardware.

So disappointing.

Hmm I smell a repeat in history

 

[BaldiMac]

The whole thing's so stupid. Most of the world knows that Flash has a 5 year shelf life and Adobe thought it had 10. (And, of course, Apple is early at cutting things. Don't mind them. It's just what they do.)

So that's what the whole stupid argument is over...the difference of a few years. This was never a "should flash live or die?" argument. It was always a "how long does it have left?" argument.

Rather than dragging it out, Adobe should instead be pressing ahead on new tools to create tomorrow's media. THAT'S what they do...they write software. Stop complaining about the world changing, write some software, and profit from it.

The whole flash debate is a distraction from what Adobe should be doing. Hopefully this is a sign that they're starting to wise up.

I hadn't though about it that way before, but I agree completely.

 

[DJ Dilbert]

I just saw a pig fly by.

~ Jeff likes this

I wonder if they can now focus on revamping the way their crappy Tech support works...maybe bring in people that KNOW what they are doing...also revamp their Sales too...I swear to God that I was talking with sales (when I'd given up on Tech support) and their ONLY answer for why Premiere wasn't syncing audio with video from the camera was that I am using CS3 and needed to upgrade to CS5...

 

[Xavier]

"If it ain't broke, don't fix it."

At least for windows..