No Flash for Safari, but Flash is OK as Apps

Monday, October 5, 2009

No Flash on the Internet! iPhone Fans will be disappointed.

Today, Adobe announced Adobe Flash Player 10.1 for all of the major smart phones, except the iPhone. All the major smart phones will get Flash on their web browsers by next year, while iPhone’s arch enemy, the Palm Pre, has already been seen running Flash almost flawlessly. This is an Open Screen Project put together by Adobe, RIM, Google, and other major industry leaders to deliver Flash experience for mobile web browsing.

The lack of participation by Apple will be a huge disappointment for iPhone users. Many have high hopes that one day, their iPhones can explore the entire flash enabled internet just like the rest of the web. Apple, however, says that the full version of the Flash player may dampen performance on the iPhone. And thus, they have elected to not participate in Adobe’s Open Screen Project. But knowing Apple and its desire for tight control on its apps, Apple may not want Flash on Safari at all, since app developers can circumvent the App Store with Flash enabled iPhone Safari browser.

Apple’s fear for losing control on its apps over Flash is becoming more evident as Adobe announced that developers can use its Flash technology to easily create iPhone apps. As iPhone and iPod Touch Apps, Flash may have finnaly found a way to infect iPhones. Apple should be OK with Flash enabled apps since they will have to be approved by Apple before the public can utilize them. iPhone owners, however, will lose their freedom to explore the internet as they please. Whenever there is a website that demands Flash technology, iPhone owners will hit a brick wall and sadly envy all the other cell phone users who can browse the flash enabled web as they please.