I think many websites should replace their Flash content with HTML5 if HTML5 is indeed efficient. However, you can't make animations such as short movies, cartoons, and games with HTML5. You can only do that in Flash.
While I'm glad that HTML5 will probably be used where it's possible, I would like the iPad and my iPod Touch to support Flash, simply because there will ALWAYS be rare websites using Flash content for any of the following reasons:
- Not every website is rich/popular enough to be able to convert from Flash to something else
- Not everyone cares about the iPad or iPhone
- Some people base their websites on hand-drawn animations and stuff like that, which isn't possible on HTML5 in any way
I hate how Apple only seems to care about "most people" and "most websites" and "the large majority". Some people don't go to CNN's website EVER, and some people go to websites made by their friends for FUN, not caring about web standards and compatibility. Just as you show your badly exposed photos to your friends on Facebook, some people show their badly-designed webpages to their friends. But of course, who cares about doing something for fun? It's all about serious stuff right?
What if Apple put Flash on their portable devices, but still managed to convert MOST sites to HTML5. MOST content would be fast, wouldn't bog down the battery, and would run just fine, since it would be HTML5. However, if, rarely, you would happen to stumble on a webpage designed solely in Flash for whatever insane reason, you would still be able to use that webpage. But since those websites would be RARE, your battery life wouldn't suffer much at all.
The web is about "doing whatever you like". There are no rules, and people who think there are rules don't understand what the web is. If you want, you can create a website about cats wearing spiderman costumes. The amazing thing with the internet is that you can do everything. To keep it that way, every browser has to support 100% of the possibilities. There are web standards for big websites such as Facebook and YouTube, but there are websites created by people who don't know much about web design since they're only doing it for FUN, they don't know about web standards.
Apple does this with most things: "Most people don't need a matte screen" "Most people don't use an ExpressCard slot" "Most people don't use FireWire 400", etc... These things are completely true, an Apple is right. However, I feel that there should be a solution for everyone, not just for "most people". There will always be a small minority of people who want to do things in a special way for whatever reason. Why not let them?
I love Flash since it allowed me to create complex games and animations that I would not have been able to do in HTML5 since I'm not a programmer, I have other things to do than learn stuff like this. I don't care about the performance, I just want to show it off to 5-10 people who are only going to see them once. If I have my iPod with me, I can't show them, and I always feel like "oh right... I'll show you when I'll have the REAL internet with me".
I know that Flash is inefficient, but it allows amateurs and NORMAL PEOPLE to create rich content, not just programmers who spent their life learning this stuff. Just like Point-And-Shoot cameras: they take crappy pictures, but they allow normal people to take useable photos, for FUN.