iPhone to make do without Flash?
by Chris Ziegler 
posted Jun 13th 2007 at 10:13PM
The latest word out of WWDC seems to be that the iPhone won't support Flash -- you know, that all-powerful web plugin that seems at times to be more freaking important than HTML itself. This comes just days after the latest iPhone commercial depicted a happy, errorless loading of the New York Times' Flash-enabled site on the handset's Safari-based browser, so we're not too sure what's going on there. For what it's worth, we figure Apple's spent way too long trumpeting the fact that the iPhone rocks a full implementation of Safari for a plugin as critical as Flash to not find its way into the device's firmware at some point -- and word has it that Apple is emphasizing the "yet" in "no Flash support yet" -- so we'll just have to wait and see what Adobe's cooking.
Reader Comments (Page 1 of 1)
tim @ Jun 13th 2007 11:42PM
So I guess it's not really the REAL web instead of the mobile web huh?
Jonhimslf @ Jun 14th 2007 1:52AM
No it still is the real web.. engadget.com and mobile.engadget.com are two completely different sites... engadget.com is accessible from the iPhone (of course I don't know that for sure, but would assume that it is) It's more like it's the full web, without a flash plug-in.. but that hardly means that it isn't the real web.
Jonathan @ Jun 14th 2007 2:25AM
Guess it's not "just the internet, on your phone" after all. The commercial emphasizes it to be EXACTLY like the computer, but in your pocket. Nothing missing, nothing watered down.
And yet, tons and tons of websites will either not work at all, or have huge chunks missing due to no flash.
False advertising!
Trini @ Jun 14th 2007 12:10AM
No, Apple has brewed up their own little plugin to alow flash playback on the iPhone.
carlo @ Jun 14th 2007 12:18AM
and where'dja get that from? cite your sources please. i remember QT being able to handle flash movies, but come on. save the rumors for that other site.
JohnDoe303 @ Jun 14th 2007 3:54AM
I'm so over the iPhone.. ATT service in my area is horrible.. No flash.. No keyboard.. No GPS.. No Enterprise Sync.. No EQ.. Overpriced.. Over promised.. Under delivered.
Mikey P @ Jun 14th 2007 8:38AM
You forgot...
No 3G.
No real 3rd party support.
Alessandro @ Jun 14th 2007 9:04AM
Ciao
most likely will be Flash Lite!
Alessandro
Vermilion @ Jun 15th 2007 12:38AM
Well, I'm not surprised. Flash isn't a simple plugin; like all other OS X plugins, you need an Intel version for Intel machines, and a PowerPC version for PowerPC machines. Now, you need an ARM version for ARM-based machines such as the iPhone, which simply doesn't exist.
Could it be made? Absolutely. Go talk to Adobe about this one.
Ari @ Jun 16th 2007 3:09AM
If you look at the video demo of safari on the iPhone site, it clearly shows the Times site loading without the flash video.