After trying, again and again, to get Flash and Air onto the iPhone and iPad, Adobe has officially dumped the idea. The real push came to a shove in this direction when Apple updated their new developer license which restricts developers to using API’s they personnaly chose.
Here are the terms from Apple:
3.3.1 — Applications may only use Documented APIs in the manner prescribed by Apple and must not use or call any private APIs. Applications must be originally written in Objective-C, C, C++, or JavaScript as executed by the iPhone OS WebKit engine, and only code written in C, C++, and Objective-C may compile and directly link against the Documented APIs (e.g., Applications that link to Documented APIs through an intermediary translation or compatibility layer or tool are prohibited).
This change essentially bans converted third party apps. This change includes the Flash to Iphone Packager made by Adobe. Needless to say, Adobe is pretty angry. Principal Product Manager Mike Chambers wrote an interesting article which was nothing short of hate mail, but he had a few good points. Officially he stated:
We will still be shipping the ability to target the iPhone and iPad in Flash CS5. However, we are not currently planning any additional investments in that feature.
The primary goal of Flash has always been to enable cross browser, platform and device development. The cool web game that you build can easily be targeted and deployed to multiple platforms and devices. However, this is the exact opposite of what Apple wants. They want to tie developers down to their platform, and restrict their options to make it difficult for developers to target other platforms. There is plenty of commentary online about this, so I won’t belabor the point
However on a more interesting note, Adobe Flash & Air will be available for Android tablets and other Android devices. At this point, I guess Apple could really care less. With 10.89 million iPods and 8.75 million iPhones, it looks like not having Flash on their devices isn’t exactly hurting their 90% rise in profit for the 2010 Q1. WOW.
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MrGroove
April 23, 2010 at 8:33 am
And the iPhone, iPod and iPad will probably be that much more secure. Flash is an exploiters dream right now and has been for the last several years.
I think Adobe needs to clean up their act and hire some secure code reviewers before it’s banned from all devices (probably won’t happen but it’s fun saying it).
goLfie
April 23, 2010 at 1:27 pm
I’m almost certain that the whole iPad thing was just a publicity stunt created by Apple. The product itself is a joke, but all of the expanded free coverage on it by THOUSANDS of high ranking sites out there are certainly boosting Apples brand influence.
devprise
May 21, 2010 at 7:22 pm
the prediction is 8 million iPad sales in 2010… all hale SJ! ;)
MrGroove
May 22, 2010 at 2:33 pm
Not Surprised…. At work we’ve purchased about 50 of them already for no other reason than to just look cool…. Personally, I think they are pretty sweet especially when used with Citrix. Wow, any business app you want all on the iPad! I freaked out a few people on Friday using my iPad at work when I showed them I was running IE on it. ;)
btw – Awesome site – https://www.devprise.com
Jobe
June 18, 2010 at 10:04 am
I think this guy got it in one., the Flash thing is not really a technical issue but Apple, visa vi Steve Jobs’ feeligings about porn. Read this link.
http://www.mosesavalon.com/mosesblog/?p=612#comments
Rafferty
March 1, 2011 at 8:02 am
Wow! It’s cool! This is what I wait for the X