Adobe’s Flash has been a heavily debated topic of discussion amongst Apple and iPhone users alike. While some users demand the ability to view flash content on the iPhone, open standards advocates think it’s a step in the completely wrong direction. Apple has maintained its firm stance on keeping Flash off of their platform, and for the sake of the iPhone, let’s hope it stays that way.
A recent remark made by Adobe’s Senior Director of Engineering, Paul Betlem at the Flash On The Beach (FOTB) conference in Brighton:
At a shareholder meeting earlier this year (referring to a gap in Adobe’s current Flash offerings), Apple CEO Steve Jobs explained that there is a “missing product in the middle somewhere,” and that there are “architectural limitations within Flash itself,” that can be blamed for the lack of iPhone support. Flash lite is too puny and a full version of Flash simply won’t perform well on the iPhone. Flash is very processor intensive, running all of those animations is simply not within reach for a mobile browser, nor is it necessary. The entire Flash platform within itself is a very touchy subject for many. My personal belief is that it is more pollution than good. The entire concept of the product being integrated within an open code environment like Apple’s iPhone makes me cringe. The idea that iPhone users would soon see Flash advertisements and horrid navigation components, while browsing in Mobile Safari isn’t particularly appealing.
With the recent remarks made, Adobe has essentially put the ball in Apple’s court. If Apple agrees, Adobe says they’ll have a version of Flash running on the iPhone in no time. If this happens, there better be an “Off” setting in Safari. Assuming the massive long shot that Apple will enable Flash support, a “Flash Off” setting should be the very least of what we should expect. Another way Apple could appease to all sides would be to develop a “Flash for iPhone” Mobile Safari plugin and distribute it via the App Store. Users could download this Safari Plugin and then enable or disable Flash support as they like. In order for this to work though, Apple would need to change its iPhone SDK Developer Guidelines which state that “all third-party software be released as standalone applications rather than as plug-ins.” Not likely to happen.
If Apple indeed enabled Flash support on the iPhone, users would then need an iPhone “Flash Video” player and the chances of that happening are about the same as seeing Steve Ballmer himself using an iPhone. Apple would never enable support for a competing media format on the iPhone. iTunes is the bread and butter that holds everything together for most users (and Apple). Allowing users to bypass Apple’s ecosystem and iTunes altogether is not within Apple’s best interest. Apple is not focused on supporting Flash on the iPhone, at least not while Steve Jobs holds the reigns. An Adobe spokesman Ryan Stewart, noted the following in a company blog post: “No one aside from [Apple chief executive] Steve Jobs has any idea if or when it’s coming. Everyone I talk to doesn’t know anything.”
What can’t be forgotten here is Apple’s intentions behind most of their reasoning. Aside from the format wars, Adobe’s Flash is a closed code environment. For the most part, it’s completely un-indexable, which means Google, Yahoo, Ask, MSN and all search engines have a difficult time reading Flash content. Additionally, Apple is very controlling when it comes to the way their content is displayed. The iPhone SDK offers developers standard interface components, (buttons, input fields, icons) that Apple encourages developers to use, in the hopes of achieving a cross-application unified experience on the iPhone. Adobe’s Flash doesn’t integrate well with Apple’s end vision for user interface perfection. It’s a clash of fundamental control that Apple is not willing to relinquish.
Any way you look at the situation, Apple would need to alter something to enable Flash support on the iPhone. Either they alter their Developer Guidelines, rework Mobile Safari, or give up some user interface control. All three of them seem like extreme long shots, especially if you look at the way the iPhone as a platform and the App Store have been evolving.
One Comment to “If Apple’s iPhone Gets Flash, It Better Have An “OFF” Setting”
First, to say that Flash doesn’t integrate well with Apple’s end vision for UI perfection is the world’s biggest understatement. I have yet to come across a Flash app that even looks native on MacOS X.
Two, if Apple were to give the OK, there would be two Flash apps that perform well and look good on the iPhone. A demo written by Adobe to show off that it “works well and looks good” on the iPhone, and whoever is number 2 in Flash usage after YouTube (as you already can access YouTube better on the iPhone than using the web interface). I also find it bizarre that people write in comments that they want Flash to access YouTube videos (obviously written by people who haven’t even tried the iPhone and don’t know it’s got native access to most (maybe all by now).
Three, why would Adobe treat the Flash plugin and/or app on the iPhone any better than they treat the Flash plugin for MacOS X. For some reason the Mac plugin soaks up way more processing power for a given page than it does on Windows XP.
Four, having Flash just opens up the iPhone to a whole new class of vulnerabilities, that Apple has no control over when/how fast they get fixed. And Adobe doesn’t like playing in another apps sandbox (limiting which parts of the OS it has access too). It very much prefers to completely manage it’s security (or lack thereof) itself.
Five, the only Flash content that doesn’t have to be rewritten specifically for the iPhone are…ads! Everything else pretty much does, as the main usage for Flash is mainly mouse interaction with content/controls. Typical Flash controls are way too small for using them with a finger instead of a mouse. The UI model is fundamentally different, and requires custom Flash content to work well on the iPhone. There might be a brief surge of customization for the iPhone when it first comes out, after that, it will probably drop back down to similar levels that Flash is customized for MacOS X.
Six, Flash is part of Adobe’s plan to smear all operating systems into one mediocre one. Their standalone apps purposefully work against platform-specific UI in the name of making all platforms work the same. And don’t get me started with AdobeAIR (which I’m sure Adobe also wants to inflict on the iPhone). Hell, they can’t get people to install it, so they have to bundle it as a non-optional install with all their other products (which don’t actually use it), just to boost their numbers.
Please Apple, keep saying no to Flash!
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