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Hulu Developing Non-Flash Player for Deployment on iPad?
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So why is Windows Mobile 7 dropping Flash?
Or
Why are the Firefox Mobile developers for Maemo dropping Flash?
Back in the day, Flash was a useful bridging technology. But it was devised before GPUs and hardware video - and now it just isn't suited for mobile devices. I am sure it will continue to find uses elsewhere.
But if content creators want their stuff to reach mobile users, they simply need to provide an alternative delivery method.
And thank goodness. They already are.
C.
Or
Why are the Firefox Mobile developers for Maemo dropping Flash?
Back in the day, Flash was a useful bridging technology. But it was devised before GPUs and hardware video - and now it just isn't suited for mobile devices. I am sure it will continue to find uses elsewhere.
But if content creators want their stuff to reach mobile users, they simply need to provide an alternative delivery method.
And thank goodness. They already are.
C.
From a user's point of view, hopefully Hulu is available on the iPad since that'll surely mean it'll trickle down to the iTouch and iPhone and also because of all of the valuable content it would provide.
While including Hulu on the iPad would make the device more appealing to potential customers, it might not make too much sense financially for Apple to include the Web site's content since it is in direct competition with many of the products sold in the iTunes store.
While including Hulu on the iPad would make the device more appealing to potential customers, it might not make too much sense financially for Apple to include the Web site's content since it is in direct competition with many of the products sold in the iTunes store.
Indeed, because the BBC does make a version of the iPlayer for the iPhone that simply streams H.264 video rather than using Flash I am quite certain that other video streaming services will move to such delivery if there are sufficient users without Flash. Hulu isn't stupid - they need people to be watching their content and, as the old proverb goes, "if the mountain won't come to Mohammed, then Mohammed must go to the mountain".
Flash isn't going to go away soon, but it will go away and non-support for it on the iPhone/iPad will accelerate the process.
I voted negative, because I know this story isn't true, just as the last four on Hulu hitting the iPhone haven't been. Sorry.
1) Hulu is contractually guaranteed to take all legal and technical measures it can to prevent stream ripping, and is now required to encrypt the streams. That really can't plausibly be done on the iPad.
2) Even if the iPad had Flash, Hulu would still have to block it, as their copyright licences from the studios don't extend to mobile devices.
Phazer
Laaaame. Once again, the world caters to the petty, selfish whims of Steve Jobs... just because he doesn't want to play ball and join the 75% of the world's websites that use flash. "Ooh, how dare Adobe use proprietary?! Instead, let's use Apple proprietary so it's fair."
I think the notion that Apple wants to ban flash because it's a threat to their iTunes model is really far fetched. I think Apple wants to control the entire OS and wants to build a model where developers are operating by their rules. This is a new interface that they are pioneering and it gives them the opportunity to do that.
There are apps available in the app store right now which compete directly with Apple services. Why are these apps allowed?
In Europe you have Spotify, which is free in the app store but requires a subscription which is done outside of iTunes directly on Spotify's website. Apple makes absolutely nothing from Spotify and Spotify is a direct competitor to their music. They offer a streaming service, with an enormous catalog, it works without lag or loading times, you can make tons of playlists, it has an offline mode where songs are downloaded into the iPhone and able to play without a connection.
There are lot's of other examples, like ebook apps which will be competing with Apple's offering very soon.
I think Hulu, like all other video apps (YouTube, UStream, Daily Motion) will easily get a place in the App Store once they meet the requirements.
Age isn't the issue!
I am a 61 year old director of distance learning. I'm a huge fan of Adobe, and use their products every day. I do Photoshop, premiere, Soundbooth, Encore, InDesign, Acrobat and teach a few as well, and I use dual-boot Mac. But iPad has the opportunity to revolutionize teaching in the 21century. Every semester we have a minimum increase of 30% in online classes, and face-to-face classes are using Internet platforms to access additional resources.
Students carrying 30 pounds of school books in backpacks could be eliminated (the backpacks that is), because textbooks are coming for the iPad. There is already the ability to write papers and create PowerPoints built right in the iPad. Students will be able to IM, email, Skype, and do all of their online classwork directly from the iPad from anywhere - anywhere.
As far as TV shows, which isn't a priority to me, there are sites already accommodating my iPod. I especially use Youtube for instructional video, and they are providing a lot in MP4 now. I buy my movies from iTunes, and am perfectly happy with those on whatever device I use.
If you don't see the application for this in your life, fine, but for education, this should be the dawn of a new day of convenience for the students. Instructors are recording video and audio lectures for playback off websites or for download. If you're out sick, you download the lecture. If you are a thousand miles away, you do the same thing.
To say the iPad is junk, or you should just get a laptop, or one of another hundred bad suggestions, I recommend an iPad for cost and the ability of the te machine, as well as the fact Apple makes a solid product. My first iPod touch was $499, and it can't compare to what the iPad will provide it's users, and it will have a full page screen.
I will be investing in this technology, and I am excited to be doing it. This is the most exciting thing I have seen for education for the last 10 years.
I am a 61 year old director of distance learning. I'm a huge fan of Adobe, and use their products every day. I do Photoshop, premiere, Soundbooth, Encore, InDesign, Acrobat and teach a few as well, and I use dual-boot Mac. But iPad has the opportunity to revolutionize teaching in the 21century. Every semester we have a minimum increase of 30% in online classes, and face-to-face classes are using Internet platforms to access additional resources.
Students carrying 30 pounds of school books in backpacks could be eliminated (the backpacks that is), because textbooks are coming for the iPad. There is already the ability to write papers and create PowerPoints built right in the iPad. Students will be able to IM, email, Skype, and do all of their online classwork directly from the iPad from anywhere - anywhere.
As far as TV shows, which isn't a priority to me, there are sites already accommodating my iPod. I especially use Youtube for instructional video, and they are providing a lot in MP4 now. I buy my movies from iTunes, and am perfectly happy with those on whatever device I use.
If you don't see the application for this in your life, fine, but for education, this should be the dawn of a new day of convenience for the students. Instructors are recording video and audio lectures for playback off websites or for download. If you're out sick, you download the lecture. If you are a thousand miles away, you do the same thing.
To say the iPad is junk, or you should just get a laptop, or one of another hundred bad suggestions, I recommend an iPad for cost and the ability of the te machine, as well as the fact Apple makes a solid product. My first iPod touch was $499, and it can't compare to what the iPad will provide it's users, and it will have a full page screen.
I will be investing in this technology, and I am excited to be doing it. This is the most exciting thing I have seen for education for the last 10 years.
Thats cool, and if the announcement was a year ago I would be excited.
But now there are alternative ways to get to hulu, I know of at least 2 ways in the appstore and 3 more that are in the development stage.
Its just a matter of transcoding the video from hulu into something the iphone can play. Something that is becoming a lot more common .
Hulu uses a fairly consitant mpeg format that makes the above easier.
I was just watching hulu content on my iphone yesterday using an app I am developing.
The problem with a hulu site dedicated just to the iphone is that it is likely to have only a subset of the incredible amount of content available on hulu.
But now there are alternative ways to get to hulu, I know of at least 2 ways in the appstore and 3 more that are in the development stage.
Its just a matter of transcoding the video from hulu into something the iphone can play. Something that is becoming a lot more common .
Hulu uses a fairly consitant mpeg format that makes the above easier.
I was just watching hulu content on my iphone yesterday using an app I am developing.
The problem with a hulu site dedicated just to the iphone is that it is likely to have only a subset of the incredible amount of content available on hulu.
Nope -1. You don't get it. Neither did he.
The real problem is Apple wants to produce small devices using low-power chips that can everything else well, but don't have the horsepower to run the current versions of Flash. Is that because Flash is just too sophisticated for such a tiny processor? No. It's because Flash is a bunch of legacy C++ code formed into a giant ball of mud.
The issue isn't that Flash isn't owned by Apple. If Flash ran on these ARM processors and didn't consume the battery in 15 minutes in order to do something that can be done just as well in HTML5 or a proprietary video stream, it might be embraced by Apple. But, there are other problems too, Flash is not multi-touch enabled - apps written in Flash can rely on things like mouse hover that have no obvious analogous gesture on a multi-touch device.
For Apple to embrace the use of Flash on their "mobile" devices, Adobe needs to devise a multi-touch version (or subset) of Flash that will run efficiently on these devices. Adobe either can't or won't so Apple isn't left with a lot of alternatives. Apple could also be a little better about holding out the proverbial olive branch as well, instead of just throwing Flash under the bus nearly every opportunity it gets.
It's a shame really, no one wins in the current situation. Apple, Adobe, and the customer (us) all lose.
I disagree.
Yes there are some apps that get around the iTunes business, but they are still approved.
I remember the flash discussions when the iphone came out. Flash allows unauthorised code to run on the iphone, and that is a no-no.
It allows free and legally unregulated apps that would compete with the app store, movies and tv shows without any requirement for royalties, even ebooks could be given the flash treatment by anyone with a scanner.
It would pose a threat to all the media partners and app developers - and if apple want to hammer out good deals - they are unlikely to want to jeapordise the negotiations by compromising one of the securest platforms in IT.
It would hit them in the pocket when the alternative making the world bow to their whim. Does that sound like something we expect from
?Personally - I have missed flash twice in 18 months.
And for all the flash that isn't movies or ads - the proper creative flash (about 2%), there is a button in the programme that asks "would you like to make an app out of that".
Consider flash as the SUV of the tech world
Terrifically capable and flexible way of going places where others can't - and even where people try and stop you, but ungainly, inefficient and in 98% of cases - only used for the school run.
Sorry - but you are just plain wrong. You talk about me possibly becoming a dinosaur - Flash 5! oh dear god. AS1... no video...no OO programming.
Anyway - you have failed to grasp anything I was talking about. None of those sites will be visible on the iPad or iPhone. OR any of your clients flash site you have built
How can you do anything remotely like some of those site without flash is what I am asking...
Oh dear... of course there are mobile versions of things bus that's the point! It's not the full web is it! As steve suggests it is! Might as well use WAP!
I am not saying that you cannot view any content form these providers but you cannot view any of the interesting stuff - as the site was originally designed!
The point is that the iPhone browser was supposed to show us the full web but where is it!
and how stupid will those mobile site look on the iPad...
You are not getting it... the clue is in the URLs...
iPhone... mobile... m.
they are
a) not the full sites
b) workarounds at best
c) VERSIONING - which is the most counterproductive thing ever... Hey lets make a cool website and then dilute it to hell.
Again, I'm starting to doubt you've actually checked these pages on the iPhone OS ever before. You seem to be listing sites that use Flash, and then blindly guessing the experience on iPhone OS.
The thing is - yes, Flash has a place - but most of these sites you've listed use Flash for things that can be done equally well without it (splash intros, navigation, video delivery, banner ads, etc.). For everything else, a lot of it is impressive visual effects that aren't mission-critical to the functionality of the site.
You also have to remember, I know what I was doing when listing these URLs because the mobile web today is much richer than the mobile web we had five years ago. So I can see why "mobile web" might conjure up images of primitive sites in your mind.
You've disclosed that you're a Flash developer with a Flash-dependent site (Prowlmedia), so I can understand why you're defending Flash (with some good reasoning). But unlike all the knee-jerk Flash-bashers around here, I'm just trying to suggest that the absence of Flash isn't as big a showstopper to the user's experience on these devices as you might think.
The thing is - yes, Flash has a place - but most of these sites you've listed use Flash for things that can be done equally well without it (splash intros, navigation, video delivery, banner ads, etc.). For everything else, a lot of it is impressive visual effects that aren't mission-critical to the functionality of the site.
You also have to remember, I know what I was doing when listing these URLs because the mobile web today is much richer than the mobile web we had five years ago. So I can see why "mobile web" might conjure up images of primitive sites in your mind.
You've disclosed that you're a Flash developer with a Flash-dependent site (Prowlmedia), so I can understand why you're defending Flash (with some good reasoning). But unlike all the knee-jerk Flash-bashers around here, I'm just trying to suggest that the absence of Flash isn't as big a showstopper to the user's experience on these devices as you might think.
Alright - Ask Adobe if Apple has brought them to the table. They haven't. Apple has given them the cold shoulder... So while I fully admit that Flash is a processor-hungry pig that is not the best thing for a "mobile" device like the iPad - the fact remains that Apple is not clamoring, or even politely inviting, Adobe to develop a Safari mobile plug-in that will play friendly with the iPad.
As for the gesture/point nature of the iPad - It's true that Flash is a mouse-oriented environment, but it wouldn't take much for Adobe to adjust Flash to mimic mouse-like behavior to the point where it would be intuitive for most users. It wouldn't be perfect. But it would quite probably be good enough to enable the lion's share of Flash content that doesn't include lots of mouseover events.
Anyways, we all sorta lose in this. A future without Flash is generally a good thing, but expecting this to happen in the near-term is as realistic as thinking that we can be running on renewable electricity in 10 years' time.
Adobe hasn't shown the interest or capability to improve Flash in any substantial way, so I wouldn't count on them.
Perhaps they're waiting until Adobe writes a Mac Safari plugin that isn't a resource hog. If Adobe wants to play in the Apple mobile space, they should be better citizens in Mac OS X. That's why I find this whining on Adobe's part so galling -- they're like someone who always gets drunk and barfs on people's shoes at parties, and then complains when they don't get invited to a wedding. Who needs the hassle?
So it would seem, but it's my contention that this "not ready for iPad" narrative is a superficial component of Apple's real motive. This is a matter of strategic convenience for Apple - that Adobe has treated OS X as a second-class runtime.
It will be very very interesting to see how Flash plays out with iPad's future competitors and if the web conforms to the needs of deliberately crippled iPad browsing, or if the iPad has to eventually to conform to the web. I hope it's the latter, because this splinterweb nonsense is a needless handicap for web developers.
There's no reason why I should have to view the "mobile" version of any website when we're dealing with a 10" screen and a perfectly capable processor in the Apple A4 chip.
I would count myself as a "web developer", and frankly I don't see Flash as being an integral part of "the web". It's not standards-based, it's not open, it doesn't produce accessible sites, it costs a fortune for the development tools, it's a kludgey proprietary hack that has been forcibly welded onto the actual web -- why should we bemoan its possible demise? If you want a true web that isn't crippled, get rid of Flash, and work towards a web where such interactivity is provided by a standard that everyone can use.
Regardless of Apple's true motives, I think that here they're on the side of the (long-term) angels, and I hope we see the day that they refused to put Flash on the iPhone as similar to the day they refused to put a floppy drive in the iMac.
