Adobe To iPhone Users- “Want Flash? Don’t Blame Us”
Posted on 02 November 2009, at 11:45 am, by Dan Cohen
This might not be new but I certainly don’t recall seeing this message before…
I went to watch something on my iPhone earlier and couldn’t. Turns out it was flash and, as you likely know, the iPhone doesn’t support flash. That’s nothing new. What was new, at least to me, was the way the screen presented the message about Flash not working.
In the past I had gotten messages like- “To view this content upgrade your browser and flash plug-in.”
Now the message was far more pointed. Roughly translated it would read–
Listen up, you may want flash but you can’t have flash- at least not on this device. Why? Don’t blame us. It is certainly doable to enable flash on this thing but Apple RESTRICTS the technology needed to make it happen. And until Apple changes their policy you are out of luck. Seriously, we WANT to give you Flash. It would be our pleasure to give you Flash. We are ready to give you Flash. Seriously! But Apple won’t let us. Adobe- Good. Apple- Bad.
As I said, this might be an old message, but I for one have never seen it. Assuming I wasn’t missing this all along, it sure seems like Adobe has taken of the gloves. I’ll be interested to see how this plays out.
Related posts:
November 2nd, 2009 at 1:44 pm
Wow. Looks like war has been declared. This is why a viable competitor to the iphone is necessary. To keep apple from playing god
November 2nd, 2009 at 2:38 pm
What planet are you from if you think anyone wants Flash on iPhone? Flash sucks on Mac – it always causes the fans to blow – , whose fault there?
And Flash is not needed to create a viable iPhone competitor. Flash works on Symbian and – boom – no viable iPhone competitor there.
Let Flash die…or take off and nuke it from orbit. It’s the only way to be sure.
November 2nd, 2009 at 2:47 pm
I didn’t say word one about wanting flash- although I do.
The post was about Adobe going postal on Apple.
Oh and what planet am I from?
Planet “I actually read and to respond to what is written”
It is a lovely place. You should visit some time.
November 2nd, 2009 at 3:16 pm
I wouldn’t necessarily assume that Apple is playing God in this case. They might be, but Adobe isn’t coming clean with all the facts yet.
Adobe needs to be clear – what technologies could it possibly need that Apple is restricting? They’ve already opened up access to the hardware in OS 3.x, so what else could Adobe need?
I think they need to stop being vague and trying to slap Apple from the sidelines and come right out and say what they want. Otherwise it’s just so much noise.
November 2nd, 2009 at 5:15 pm
I’m always bemused by the Mac fanboys defending Apple when it’s abundantly clear – in fact, it’s a “feature” – that Apple have a closed, approval-driven, architecture that prevents many great applications from becoming available to consumers. Whether or not you, individually, think the Flash player is great or awful, it would be good to be able to make the choice at all. At the moment, Apple don’t allow us to.
Apple’s policy blows, and Adobe are probably sick of people assuming that because Flash can’t play on their iPhone, it must be Adobe’s fault for not making a suitable player. The message they’re posting may sound “harsh” to some, but it’s the truth – Apple are robbing their customers of the right to choose whether or not to use the Flash player on their portable devices.
November 2nd, 2009 at 8:01 pm
Ever since the iPhone came out Apple has been trying to get Adobe to write a more streamlined mobile flash player. one that:
1) won’t crash and possibly make the phone reboot
2) won’t drain the battery too much
3) won’t tax the processor so much that it creates a heat problem
4) is secure enough to keep malicious code from running on your phone.
For whatever reason Adobe has been unable or unwilling to do this. So, Yes Apple has created restrictions, but very necessary ones. Anything less would be bad for the end user and for Apple’s reputation.
November 2nd, 2009 at 8:21 pm
@treq With respect, I must disagree. Adobe (and even 3rd party developerd) have already written (a) Flash player(s) for iPhone, but Apple have persistently disallowed it. The reason is nothing to do with performance it is to do with Apple’s stubborn insistence that nothing on the iPhone is allowed to execute downloadable code, which Flash by its very nature does.
One example from earlier this year: http://www.appscout.com/2009/0.....player.php
Apple want total control over their hardware. I say, give some control to the users, please. We can decide what risks we want to take, we don’t need a nanny Apple telling us.
November 2nd, 2009 at 8:57 pm
Don’t worry Apple is not acting like GOD.
God gave mankind the freedom of choice.
November 2nd, 2009 at 9:38 pm
@mlearning I totally disagree with it having nothing to do with performance. Adobe flash player is a bloated pig when it comes to system resources. Even on my Macbook, any page with flash content makes the fans spin up faster than when I’m watching a HD movie. Anything that needs that much power to play a simple lo-res video needs to be streamlined before it can be allowed on the iphone. But that aside, allowing it to execute downloadable code is a huge security hole that is all but impossible to protect. Apple is just covering their butts (as well as everyone else’s). That’s one of the things that makes Macs better than windows computers.
November 3rd, 2009 at 2:58 am
If one has flash on iPhone it would watch series, movies and such on MegaVideo.com and other streaming sites for free. That means no money for Apple. That’s it.
November 3rd, 2009 at 4:10 am
@treq There have been functional versions of the Flash player on mobile devices for over 5 years. Even if Apple were to allow one of these “lite” versions of the Flash player, it would be a step in the right direction as far as user choice is concerned. Performance is a total non-issue.
As far as downloadable code goes, Apple are just stubborn asses. Their excuse is not about security, it is about control. As a fanboy, however, I expect you’ll swallow their line hook line and sinker.
I’m no fanboy, though I do have an iPhone 3GS – but it’s the first and last iPhone I’ll buy should Apple persist with their closed wall mindset.
I very much like the look of Android.
November 3rd, 2009 at 5:08 am
@mlearning First, don’t be a condescending ass. To call me a fanboy that will swallow Apple’s line hook, line, and sinker is ignorant and insulting. Second “Functional versions” is a very loose term. Flash is barely functional in it’s full version. The “lite” version is very buggy, uses too much processor power, and when it crashes, can crash the whole system. Third, security is a huge concern. The last version of flash for mac that was released with snow leopard had a huge security hole in it. This was just 2 months ago. Lastly, Apple has reasons for keeping tight control over approved software. It’s not control for control’s sake. It’s to create a more stable, reliable, secure, enjoyable user experience. They don’t always succeed, but they do have good track record. It’s why OS X is much more stable than windows. As for android… I don’t know much about that. The only thing I’ve heard is that the G1 sucked. Maybe the new droid phone will be better. Who knows…
November 3rd, 2009 at 5:32 am
@treq I’m sorry, but it’s only fanboys who believe that everything Apple does it does for the good of its users – “to create a more stable, reliable, secure, enjoyable user experience.” Their continued battle to take and maintain total control of the user environment – evidenced by prevention of “jailbreaking,” prevention of other software interfacing with iPhones, prevention of other hardware interfacing with iTunes, and numerous cases of apps that have allowed users to acquire some independent control of iPhones and iPod Touches, all points to a control-freakish mindset that is far more condescending, ignorant and insulting to its users than anything I could do here.
Second, your opinion of Flash is only that – your opinion. If Apple were truly worried about buggy applications that use too much processor power, then a large proportion of “approved” apps (lol) in the App store would also need to be banned by Apple.
And they’ve shown themselves happy to ban apps on far more trivial (and even obscure) grounds.
Ditto security. If Apple were interested in security, they would work with Adobe to create something for their users. Apple haven’t come to the table, haven’t shown an interest in co-developing a suitable product, and hey – even if they were partners in software development, I guess it wouldn’t guarantee app acceptance. Just ask Google.
November 3rd, 2009 at 5:37 am
http://www.boingboing.net/2009.....rss-f.html
November 3rd, 2009 at 6:40 am
@mlearning There you go again, insinuating that I am a mindless fanboy. Gotta love that “Ad-hominem” approach to debate. And I don’t believe everything apple does is good for it’s users. Everything apple does is intended to be good for apple. When they took off the firewire port and ir sensor on their new macbooks, that wasn’t good for the user. It saved apple money, but not anybody else (directly). The fact is, the success of apple is due to it creating a “more stable, reliable, secure, enjoyable user experience”. I bought my first mac because my friend showed me his iPod. It was neat, easy to use, and functioned great. So I bought one. I loved it. Then when, after 17 years of PCs and DOS/Windows problems, my 18 month old PC laptop crashed (Again) I decided it was time for a change, and bought a mac. This is what has been driving apple’s sales. People seeing and using apple devices that work. And work well. If my friends iPod had crashed that day, I’d probably still be a PC guy. But it didn’t. Apple knows and relies on this kind of story. Their reputation for stable, devices is well known, and is a direct result of their tight control of how the hardware and software work together. So in this case, what is good for apple, is good for the user.
As for apple not coming to the table to work with adobe… Unless you have some inside info that I don’t, My understanding is they did, right from the start, but adobe was unable or unwilling to abide by the restrictions for the iphone. ( you know, the ones that make it more stable, secure, and enjoyable to use, which drives sales, ect…).
November 18th, 2009 at 8:24 am
This week Adobe announced the beta of a new version of Flash Player specifically tweaked to reduce memory, cpu and power consumption.
http://www.pcworld.com/article.....hones.html