Flash on the iPhone?

[maczter]

I hate Flash. Maybe that's too broad a statement for a whole technology, but I'm sick and tired of going to websites looking for information and being forced to have an experience.

Flash has its place, but it's become a monster.

I don't want to go to a website looking for a data sheet on a camera and be forced to either watch a 2 minute abstract video intended to imbue the corporate image and vision or figure out how to click around it.

I don't want to go to a store locator and be forced to watch a "loading..." bar increment through percent by percent just so each button I press can jiggle in novel ways and make cute cartoon noises before rolling out a standard drop down menu.

The web isn't a series of pre-generated cartoon shorts. You're supposed to drill down through information looking for what you want, not pre-loading the entire site.

Not having Flash would be a blessing, in my opinion. If Apple really sees Quicktime and Flash in competition (I don't, myself), then I could easily imagine them using a high profile product like this as the thin edge of the wedge. The YouTube change over isn't because of this, but other sites will probably offer alternate content choices simply because they see the iPhone demographic as a potentially lucrative one.

The flip-side though is that it gives a very obvious point of criticism against the iPhone. I think one of the reasons we're seeing so much Flash in the first place is that it's the only way to give a consistent experience across browsers.

Hate the designer who overused/misused the tool. Don't hate the tool.

Might as well not include HTML support either since there are so many hideous web sites out there.

And those damn tele-marketers calling me on my cell phone now. I wish they would remove voice support so I didn't have to worry about those interruptions anymore.

 

[Yvan256]

I gotta disagree with you there. If the internet had to rely on animated GIFs, MOVs and WMVs to do any type of animation, things would be pretty sad. Do you really want to see YouTube with WMVs?

Yes, I do agree that Flash has given us an excellent cross-platform solution for online videos. However, animations on webpages are bad.

You may not like Jakob Nielsen, however what he says there is true. When a webpage has any type of animation whatsoever, I have to right-click in Safari just so the animations stop moving (yes I know, I should switch to Opera, it does have a "disable GIF animations" feature).

And yes before you ask I do surf with plug-ins disabled, which is why any website that requires Flash is annoying. I have to go in options, enable plug-ins, then reload the website. Once I'm done I have to go back in options to disable plug-ins again.

Flash in itself is not bad, but it's been so abused that it's bad in 99% of cases. Analog Kid pretty much described the problem as well.

 

[cannonball]

Yes, I do agree that Flash has given us an excellent cross-platform solution for online videos. However, animations on webpages are bad.

Your URL has duplicated "http://". An edit is requested.

I completely agree that flash is 99% wrong for the job. It is not a serious way to develop an interface. But there are sites out there where it has it's place, like band sites, entertainment (short anamation works)... it can also be used for great little apps like this. It is an easy and rich way to develope SPECIFIC types of CONTENT... not UIs. We all agree on that, I think.

The fact of the matter, and the real issue on this thread, is that 99% of Flash, though mostly bad, makes up a SIGNIFICANT part of the WWW. The iPhone internet experience would be watered down if Apple did not include Flash support.

 

[DoFoT9]

i think that flash would be a really good idea. it would have to be on the iphone... has to... they would be stupid if they didnt...right??

 

[pubius]

Another wizard...

Any website that requires Flash is not a website, IMHO.

Love quotes like this. You need to get out more buddy. Or start realizing that your internet may not be everyone else's internet. As someone who works in the creative world (you know, Apple's core user base), I go to a massive amount of sites that are flash based. These aren't sites that are fun and games, they are work, they are part of the evolution of the internet. Flash has been with us for about 11 years now, and many well-coded flash sites should be just as manageable (bandwidth, processing, and navigation) as html based sites.

If we are talking about design, well, what can I say, there's a ton of ugly out there, but that's not limited to flash.

 

[kcross]

personally i'm not a huge fan of flash heavy websites (or any other type of animation heavy sites [esp. with big intros/complex navigation or just crappy sites]) however if flash is left out, im assuming it's out for now (but if you ever wanted to look dumb try predict what apple will do), it's a major gaffe.

a lot of people don't really know what goes into making a website. some people assume they know how a site is made just based on the appearence. however, often times if flash is done correctly, you wont notice it's there. in reality there are going to be a lot of sites out there missing small flash apps, videos, games, and other elements that have been built in flash. this is a major dissapointment to me because, even though i use sites with flash sparingly, for all practical purposes we are not getting the "whole internet". love it or hate it flash is a real part of the internet and ignoring it wont make it go away.

is this a deal breaker for me on the iphone? no. i still want an iphone because it promises to put more of the internet in my pocket than there is currently and i will support nearly any product that does so because its high time it happened (and at reasonable speeds).

in summary... apple, we know you can run flash on the iphone. do so.

 

[phi1281]

Flash on the iPhone is only relevant if...

If the FP on the iPhone (if it's there) does not support the same level of functionality as FP9 does (ActionScript 3, etc.) then it's worthless. Flash Lite is pathetic for building mobile applications, but if you can enable developers to build Flex apps (requires FP9+) that run on the iPhone, then you will see some really cool applications come to the iPhone.

I'd rather see AIR (Adobe Integrated Runtime) applications come to the iPhone.

 

[oldMac]

My Prediction - AIR is coming...

I'd rather see AIR (Adobe Integrated Runtime) applications come to the iPhone.

My prediction is that they didn't bother with Flash for now because Apple and Adobe are working together to build native AIR support in Safari and it's not ready yet.

Probably it will be ready near end-of-year and will be part of the big AIR launch meaning instant AIR support on all machines running Safari (after an auto-update). All machines running Safari meaning Macs, PCs and iPhones.

 

[Chosenbydestiny]

Ugh, this is critical news for a flash coder like me. It would be nice to see my work on the phone like I do on laptops and desktops.

 

[milhous]

and good luck to all those iPhone owners who try to load Youtube or other Flash-leveraged sites on the EDGE network at 50-80kbps since WiFi coverage is nowhere near cell coverage.

 

[spydr]

youtube (flash video)... on your phone.

Given that all youtube videos are getting converted to h.264 I don't think you'll need flash support in order to get that on iPhone. I am sure a client API is in the works to get those running great on both aTV and iPhone.

But flash support would be great - first time in a mobile device?

 

[rbailer]

The only motivation I see for apple not offering flash is for them to use the iphone as a strategy to get web developers to stop using flash in websites. Maybe they want to push people towards Quicktime, or even roll out something new soon...

 

[djstarrock]

This seems promising.

 

[Royale w/cheese]

Not looking like this is happening with the release, or at least thats what David Pogue is saying.

 

[cirby]

Flash comes from Adobe...

Thinks about it, folks. When was the last time Adobe managed to get a software update out in time for a Version 1.0 Apple machine?

There's some guys in a lab somewhere, going "what, June 29th? No way, bucko. Give us a couple of months. Maybe."

 

[DopestGingah]

Well I guess this question has been answered! NO FLASH = NO FLASH GAMES USING MY $20 DATA PLAN!!!!!!!!!