Adobe to bring Flash to iPhone despite Steve Jobs

By Ed Oswald | Published March 19, 2008, 4:10 PM

Despite a heated exchange with Apple, Adobe seems to be pressing forward with plans to bring Flash to the iPhone.

Apple CEO Steve Jobs started the battle in the media with comments to investors at a shareholders' meeting earlier this month. Essentially, his position was that the current version of Flash for mobile phones is not good enough for the device, and the standard version runs too slowly.

In response, Adobe shot back that the iPhone was crippled without support for the increasingly pervasive multimedia Web format. It also argued that Apple had virtually left it in the dark about how exactly the two companies could work together to make Flash a reality.

Some industry insiders pointed out that without Apple's help, building Flash for the iPhone and iPod Touch will be a laborious task.

Essentially, the technology needs to be rebuilt from the ground up to take into consideration the differences between Flash in a desktop environment and in the quasi-mobile OS that Apple uses -- especially with gestures as the method of navigation on the device.

That doesn't seem to be stopping Adobe. Developers at the company have gotten a copy of the iPhone SDK and say that after looking through it, it should be possible for a Flash player to be built and then offered through the App Store system that will house iPhone applications.

Even without the iPhone, Flash Lite, the current system to bring the technology to mobile phones is doing quite well. Adobe reported that 100 million Flash Light-equipped phones shipped in the company's first quarter.

It also received additional support from Microsoft, which agreed to include the technology in Windows Mobile.

Comments

View comments by with a score of at least

Btw, its Flash Lite not Flash Light. Sounds like Silverlight.

Score: 0

|

Actually numpty guitar poof - Adobe is retarded...

worst products ever...

they make micros***e look good...

the web and for that matter the office would be a lot place if we didnt have to deal with the resource hogging s***e that are adobe products...

for ****s sake - their facking viewer uses more resources than most apps...

its only moronic web developer egomaniacs that think we only want to look at pretty pictures that this rubbish is actually used in the ****ing first place...

thank god for firefox and its plugins that allow us too turn all this s*** off...

Score: 0

|

Is that a joke? You must be seriously disillusioned to even think that.
They are industry standards on several fronts because their products are the worst ever?
I recommend you have a serious look at your computer because their applications have been improving in the resource department considerably for a few years now.

That is the worst attempt to defend apple to date…. And oh I used the Post a reply button!!

Score: 0

|

Too funny. Sad, but funny.

Score: 0

|

I have always wondered why third-party PDF readers (such as Foxit) use dozens of megabytes less resources than Adobe's native ones.

I used to like Adobe. But they have really given a new concept to the word 'bloatware.'

Score: 0

|

apple is retarded....what more is there to say?

Score: 0

|

No its Steve Jobs who is.

Score: 0

|

Personally, this is a great test of the control v. (developer) community dynamics that will continue to play out as Apple tries to build a mainstream platform; namely, secure developer ecosystem love while maintaining the high performance bar that they have established with the iPhone/iPod touch family of devices.

In that respect, it is somewhat of a three dimensional chess game unfolding, something I blogged about in, ‘The Scorpion, the Frog and the iPhone SDK.’

Check it out if interested:

http://thenetworkgarden....03/the-scorpion-th.html

Cheers,

Mark

Score: 0

|

Report: Microsoft to randomize Europe's browser screen choices

The fact that "A" is for "Apple" was apparently at the heart of browser vendor objections to Microsoft's alternative to listing IE first.

Acer eclipses Dell for #2 spot in global PC shipments, says iSuppli data

It literally does look like a 360-degree turnaround in Dell's fortunes, as the bells of bad tidings now toll solely for Dell.

Microsoft, don't hang up on Windows Mobile, but do call for help

Only a Manhattan Project can save Microsoft's phone strategy now.

See ya later, WinMo: Microsoft's mobile strategy needs a reboot

Carmi Levy | Wide Angle Zoom: Hands up if you're considering upgrading to a Windows phone for the holidays...Anybody?

Playing catch-up in 2010: Windows Mobile, BlackBerry, and Symbian

Microsoft, RIM, and Nokia are each working on improved mobile operating systems. But could these efforts add up to too little, too late?

Will Nokia's plans further alienate American consumers?

A look at Nokia's plans for the coming years does little to shine up the company's increasingly dull image.

Bing bonked by service outage Thursday, Microsoft configured the wrong server

It's always nice to have a backup, but it's even nicer to remember which one is the backup. That's the lesson Bing's admins learned yesterday evening.

Survey reveals there are more women then men, including on social networks

If you think you can market your products and services online as though you're selling car batteries in the middle of halftime, think again. And again.

Android team updates 'Donut' and 'Eclair' SDKs

The Android SDK includes components which optimize app development for each version of the mobile operating system. Today, the 1.6 and 2.0 components got updates.

The Black Screen Syndrome, or, Tech news in search of the apocalypse

Scott Fulton On Point: This is a story about something that should not have been a story, about something that at one time was a story.

Online advertising evolves away from display, toward interactive software

Marketing departments and agencies are increasingly establishing positions for "creative technologists" who can steer designers and developers toward platforms that enable direct connections with consumers.