In a blog post that I agree with in parts and disagree with in parts, Louis Gerbarg explains how Adobe can get Apple to support Flash:
If Adobe actually wants to persuade Apple to support Flash on iPhone (either as a plugin or compiled to native apps), I know how they can do it. They can get an awesome, high performance, Flash environment working on Android, and get a bunch of great Flash apps running on Android phones. As much as Apple wants to control iPhone, I am willing to bet they want to beat Android more.
That, I agree with. The argument that Apple has decided to restrict developers from using translation or compatibility layers because if one of them became particularly successful, it would give that vendor veto power over features and schedules in subsequent iPhone OS releases, I don’t really agree with. It’s a rationale, but a flimsy one.
April 12, 2010 at 4:42 pm
This makes sense.
Let’s say Apple gives in and allows Flash to be on the iPhone, but it’s slow, buggy, and creates huge security issues. Do you think that the iPhone users would blame Adobe for this? No, they’d blame Apple.
The only way Apple will ever allow Flash to be on the iPhone is if it’s fast as hell, secure, and extends the iPhone’s capabilities — as opposed to replacing existing capabilities and functionality of the iPhone OS.
April 12, 2010 at 6:54 pm
I agree w/Cameron about the blame game between Apple vs Adobe, but I think Apple’s been getting alot more heat than anticipated by not allowing flash.