Adobe Flash: Still Not On the iPhone
Adobe unveiled a new version of its Flash video player Monday that makes it possible to watch videos and other content on some mobile phones. Just dont expect to use it on an iPhone.
Flash is the most common software for watching video on the Internet, including ones from YouTube and countless other sites. Its also used to view other features on Web sites, such as zooming in on and scrolling over products. Odds are you use it every day, as Flash is installed on 98% of Internet-connected computers, according to Adobe.
Until now, however, only a slimmed down version of the software was available for mobile phones. Adobe has been working with a number of wireless carriers and phone makers to develop a version of Flash that will run on all devices. Notably absent from the project: Apple, which along with BlackBerry-maker Research In Motion, is one of the few smartphone companies that doesnt allow Flash in its device
The trend continued at Adobes annual MAX conference in San Francisco Tuesday. The companys technology chief, Kevin Lynch, said that Flash would now work on smartphonesthose big-screened phones that are increasingly able to do all the things PCs can. He demonstrated the software on a device from Samsung, one that ran Microsofts Windows Mobile operating system, and one that ran Googles new Android OS.
Then he held up an iPhone. The crowd expected a Steve Jobs-like one more thing announcement. Instead, Lynch said that Flash still wasnt available for the iPhone. The company was working on it, he added.
If only it was that easy. Getting Flash to work on the iPhone isnt a technical challenge but a political one. Apple has taken steps to ensure that only content it approves will run on the iPhone. Its a way of ensuring that developers will design software specifically for the device, which should in turn boost its appeal. The promise of Flash is that it commoditizes the phone itself by making content available regardless of device. So it might be a while.
-Ben Worthen
Source: WSJ.com: Business Technology