Unlike most people who grumbled about Flash, Apple actually made the strategic decision not to support it any more on its mobile OS. I'm not a huge fan of Apple, but I admire and respect them for taking this calculated risk.
Is this the first time you've seen a self-serving inconsistency? Apple as a company represents many things, and a keen PR team with excellent wording is one of their strengths. Apple isn't "all about HTML5" and "killing off browser plugins", but rather they are about their best interests. Nixing Flash kept the Apple-controlled AppStore the dominant gateway for applications on the device. Quicktime is another Apple technology, so it is pretty much expected that they will use it (if for nothing other than cross-promotion/marketshare)
"In any case, the iPhone is Apple's best shot at killing Flash, and Apple appears happy to be using it as such...Excluding Flash is a huge slap in the face of Adobe, which is pushing Flash as the basis of its AIR and Flex web application strategies. Adobe likes to advertise that nearly every PC has a Flash plugin installed. Suddenly, nearly every mobile that has access to the real Internet won't have Flash, making it far less attractive across the board."
"Were Flash Lite to gain momentum, it might make Adobe the Microsoft of mobiles, and Flash Lite the new Windows. That also makes it obvious why Apple wants to choke Flash to death before it falls into position as the new lowest common denominator in proprietary platforms on a new crop of mobile devices."
I really don't think it's a big deal. If people need flash they'll make sure they have it. This just throws the responsibility to the user. It's reasonable for apple to do this, but looks/sounds a little over the top.
> Sounds like they are accepting that Flash is on its way out.
Adobe will leverage Flash for all it's worth, but they cannot escape the reality of the market.
Mobile is exploding, and Flash has virtually no presence on mobile (and that's Adobe's fault, not Apple's). HTML5, via WebKit, has a huge presence on mobile. Adobe sells development tools, so it should be obvious where they need to go.
i disagree. they ignored all the main points in apple's argument. a "This is why Flash is worthwhile" response is better than a "Well, at least we'll be on android."
I don't think it's that positive a move for Flash.
I think there will be some instances where people will port existing Flash content but it's not going to be the platform of choice for most people starting from scratch.
I suspect we'll see an increase in iPhone IDEs for different platforms and Flash will be one of many picking up a small share of the market with XCode holding onto the bulk of it.
The iphone/ipad web browsers already don't support flash, so dropping flash support isn't entirely a new thing. I for one am looking forward to its death on more platforms.
i agree. something as major as flash wouldn't be just another app in the app store, it's something that apple would bundle into the next firmware update and tout in their commercials. there is obviously some other reason for them not wanting it on the phone right now.
If they really meant dropping Apple completely, IMO that is a bad idea, time will tell.
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