Group items tagged

Steve Jobs announces that Apple has no intention of supporting Flash sites through iphones and ipads in the future. Claiming that Flash has too many bugs, drains batteries too quickly and is too oriented to PCs. Apple has not intimated that they will offer an alternative solution. Do we believe these reasons, or are there more politics at play here? I'm inclined to think there is something more. Granted Apple does make every attempt to provide its users with a high level of reliability and useability which Flash obviously undermines. Clearly such standards are what differentiates the quality levels of Apple from Mac. The power is with the market then. Will users opt for other devices that do support Flash, or will the Apple brand keep its power despite not supporting the major software brand used to build interactive sites? Interestingly, although Flash is not recognised officially as a 'standard' HTML5 does support certain Flash features. Adobe has commented that it is committed to improving its Flash product.

Open Standards vs Cross Platform - it's starting to sound like politics. Confusing. Misleading. Impractical. Constrained.

A good discussion on Apple's view on Flash, following our class discussion on standards and the iPad not supporting Flash.

Came across this article the other day - basically saying that if Adobe wants to prove that Flash can run on iPhones without any major issues, they can simply use iPhones that have been "jailbroken" (meaning they've been hacked and any app can be downloaded - circumventing the App Store). Adobe could create a Flash app to run on the iPhones and prove its points about security and performance of Flash on mobile devices. http://www.guardian.co.uk/technology/blog/2010/may/18/apple-adobe-flash-player-solution

Microsoft shares the same point of view on the limitations of the Flash product as Apple. Again, reliability, security and performance were identified as impediments of supporting the flawed software. Speaking about the mobile era Steve Jobs of Apple says 'low power devices, touch interfaces and open web standards...' are areas where Flash is not currently accommodating. It's most interesting to watch powerful market players create pressure for change in the internet space. Adobe can ill afford to ignore these criticisms yet it's now taking opportunity to discredit the motives of the multinationals: "Apple's moves to block Flash and other technologies are designed to protect a business model that locks developers and consumers into a single, proprietary stack," Adobe spokeswoman Holly Campbell said.

He admits that "Flash does have some issues, particularly around reliability, security, and performance. But MS works closely with engineers at Adobe, sharing information about the issues in ongoing technical discussions. Despite these issues, Flash remains an important part of delivering a good consumer experience on today's web."