LOL at the people who think anyone cares whether it has flash or not.
75,000,000 iphone/ipod touch users don't.
...or perhaps they like the other features of the phone- such as- say- the phone functionality to put up with the lack of this ONE feature.
Hundreds of millions of people pay taxes, but I wouldn't take that as a mandate that they like it that way.
Similarly, I wouldn't sling around the number of iPhone/Touch users like their purchase was solely a vote against Flash. I say they voted for a superior smart phone experience... but, in exchange for all the great stuff, they put up with stuff that is less than ideal.
There are abundant uses of Flash on websites that is not just ads (for example, there's TONs of interactive educational presentations developed in Flash). There are abundant tools for educators to make it easy to render in Flash (allowing them to educate in rich media ways without having to be- or pay- a Flash programmer). These tools do not exist for matching the experience via HTML5, etc. Flash runs on just about
every computer and
every computer platform; HTML5 is still not compatible across just the major browsers. Will this change in time? Sure. But doing without until that time comes- just because Apple has arbitrarily decided it for us- is a poor cause to get behind (unless you're the type that Apple could tell you that the moon is made of cheese, and you would agree... just because "so sayeth the Steve").
As others have suggested, wouldn't it be better to include Flash as an OPTION for each user, making it clear to them that by using it, they are likely to see faster battery burn?
Or very, very simply: Is it really the very best option that Apple chooses to decide such matters for us?
If Steve takes the stage next year and tells us that freedom of speech is just a big bag of hurt, would some of you be on here afterwards saying how right he is, people talk too much anyway? I dig Apple, have lots of Apple products, etc, but some of this fanboy stuff is almost cult-like. Step back and think about it before you just accept that Apple is all-knowing & all-seeing and worse... always right about all things.