The unseemly row between Adobe and Apple continues. Telecoms analysts at Ovum have said that with the emergence of Flash 10.1 in smartphones, Apple will be under increased pressure to support the technology it hates so much.
Main competitor Android was the first to support Flash 10.1 with its 2.2 update. Other rivals have all marked plans to follow suit, including Blackberry, Windows Phone, Symbian, WebOS, and importantly, MeeGo. MeeGo is an Intel and Linux backed open source platform which promises to make waves with the emergence of embedded devices.
While Apple's iPhone along with the rest of Jobs' family may feel confident in edging out Blackberry, Windows Phone and Symbian, support for Android is another story. The popularity of developing using Flash combined with the sheer volume of Android devices already on the market, and more to hit the market, means the walled garden may have to remove at least a few bricks.
Nick Dillon at Ovum reckons: "Users will be accustomed to a similar web browsing experience on both mobile and desktop devices; this will ultimately impact the attractiveness of Apple's proposition. Flash certainly seems to be gaining ground with device vendors and Apple may need to re-evaluate its position if its dominance is threatened as a result.
"In addition to garnering support for Flash 10, Adobe has launched its own app distribution service for Flash and AIR applications. InMarket will help developers to sell their apps across various devices. This is clearly a big draw for developers and will threaten the dominance of platform vendors in the mobile apps market."
We think Apple's playing the long-term game. HTML5, Jobs' favourite, is impressive stuff when it's got the hardware and software to back it up. But until what's under the bonnet completely catches up with the potential HTML5 has to offer, Flash will continue to prove popular.
The data is from Ovum's Smartphone Capability Analyzer 4Q09-3Q10, which provides a quantitative view of smartphones and the capabilities they carry.
*EyeSee Picture is Haus of Adobe.
Your first statements are simply untrue, but you say them with such confidence. Que?
Flash is an embarrassment on the few devices that can run it at all. Apple is no doubt hoping their competitors continue to deliver their mobile web experience with the Adobe's clunky battery vampire.
Nothing Chris said is untrue, you should back up your contra-view.
@Damian
You should get a clue. So you want everything Flash offers mobile devices on the web - buggy flash implementation, security holes, resource hogging software, poor battery life and needless data hogging downloads that eat your mobile data allowance to no good effect.
Yup... you should get a clue and at least point to even a single mobile device that can handle flash without system slow-down.
I have three Android phones that tout flash and they all crap out regularly
after a 30 minute reply to your request, my iPhone crashed and I lost it all... I will give the super short version...
1. I own several Apple products and I'm extremely familiar with Flash, HTML5, and numerous web app technologies. Been my job/passion for over a decade.
2. Apple has always limited or refused Adobe access to hardware, as recently as the MacBook Air. It's how Apple rolls!
3. Flash, although abused, has always been intended to pick up where HTML/JS falls short. HTML 5 is no exception, nor jQuery (my personal fav) or CSS 3.
4. The "standards" move slower than government employees, meanwhile Flash has recently added or announced: true 3d engine, telephony communication, stagevideo object, and a whole lot more. Oh yeah, and that is since summer!
5. Finally, if you hate Flash ads, I'm sure you'll love HTML5 ads that can't be blocked. You asked for it so enjoy!
6. Finally, finally... Motion graphics eat battery. Play Angry Birds for 2 hours for proof. It's not a Flash thing, it's a post 1990 all text web thing...
Thank you and good night!
'...and I lost it all' - no you didn't, connect back into iTunes and everything is restored. Unless you mean the battery died?... my sympathy... it happens, but that isn't a crash.
re 2. Apple has always limited or refused Adobe access to hardware, as recently as the MacBook Air. It's how Apple rolls! Hmmn, then why since this brouhaha started, has Adobe come up with a new Mac Flash implementation that does indeed run 10x better, without Apple's help? FYI Apple does not refuse Flash on the MacBook Air, it just doesn't ship with it installed. However, tests have shown that the Air's battery life is reduced by 30%+ with Flash enabled - this is not acceptable in mobile devices.
re 3. Flash, although abused, has always been intended to pick up where HTML/JS falls short. Well I can't disagree about the abuse bit but the rest is hogwash. Flash was originally developed to do one thing - vector based web animation aka FutureSplash. Only in later years did it become the de facto means to deliver video and a whole host of other web uses. It was never 'meant' to be any of those, it just became the means to do them in the absence of any other method. And thus the bloat began and continues as you point out in 4. '...true 3d engine, telephony communication, stagevideo object, and a whole lot more'. Common sense should tell you, this is not the way forward.
Finally, I do not per se hate Flash ads - the odd one is mildly interesting or useful, but I do hate the unquestioned idea that bandwidth-swallowing-software is necessary 'for a full web experience' and that includes ads from whatever coding source. The problem is only going to get worse if the projections for web enabled mobile device sales are realised. just where do you expect that bandwidth to come from? How much of a user's costly data allowance will be used up in the blind pursuit of 'the full web experience'? The HTML5 'ads that can't be blocked' is funny, it's fairly trivial to run a script to do just that.... and that's the whole point.
re 6. Absolutely
A respectful and intelligent debate... Refreshing, right?
I think we just disagree on some points, but a few more things...
I meant Safari crashed on iPhone after I spent forever writing a comment to this article yesterday. Sucked!
Google news the MacBook air thing... Apple refuses Adobe access to it's hardware "until" it hits shelves. That is why Adobe is late to the game with Mac FP optimizations. That has always been the case. In one example earlier this year, Adobe turned around a serious update for Mac just days after Jobs allowed them in. Hardly lazy!
Lastly, I disagree that Flash is not for mobile. They are making huge strides in that arena, and like web video, once they set their sights they have a good chance to dominate. I'd rather see hardware evolve than experience grow stale. Seriously battery makers, off your A and make us something that lasts. Maybe Apples solar battery patent will save us? Oh yeah, no need for it... No Flash... :-)