Flash on the iPhone: Apple has Goldilocks syndrome

by Chris Ziegler, posted Mar 6th 2008 at 4:06AM

At Apple's shareholder's meeting this week, it seems Steve Jobs shed just a little sliver of a light on why it is we haven't seen Flash grace the iPhone yet: one version's too small and the other's too big. Basically, Steve doesn't like Flash Lite -- the pared-down version Adobe has designed for small screens and lightweight processors -- and the full-fledged version has too much bloat for the iPhone's resources. As he puts it, "there's this missing product in the middle." Personally, we'd like to be the judge of that, but we know how Apple operates; with any luck, the SDK will give devs enough power so we'll eventually end up with a Flash player (and a Flash Lite player, for that matter) anyhow.

[Via mocoNews]

Filed under: Software, Apple, iPhone OS

Tags: adobe, apple, flash

Reader Comments (Page 1 of 1)

Highest Ranked

Dale Rankine @ Mar 6th 2008 6:09AM

It's purely business, and a poor business decision at that. Flash Lite 3 runs perfectly on non-PC devices with less grunt than the iPhone (e.g. Chumby), and Flash Player 9 is on the Nokia N810 - where's the need for a middle product Steveo?

Highest Ranked

PEZ @ Mar 6th 2008 7:29AM

I thought the iphone ran Desktop Class applications? I guess that one is out the window.

Neutral

Omegab1 @ Mar 6th 2008 8:32AM

Looks like el jobso wants his very own flash edition; sorry kid your not that special..

Highest Ranked

Andrew @ Mar 6th 2008 9:13AM

Are you kidding? Adobe? Apple? I can damn near PROMISE you they will get their own version. Just like the iPhone has it's own version of just about all of the mobile web.

Really, I like my Macbook and don't mind Apple, but Steve Jobs annoys me sometimes. Every product he sells is all about what HE wants and not what everyone else wants. Maybe Flash Lite isn't as good as you'd like, but it would sure as hell be a lot better than nothing while we wait. Same thing with 3G. Steve doesn't want it because it takes too much battery. Well then make a switch to turn it off and let us make that decision. I'd personally rather have a device that's even worth using and have it in a cradle all day at work if I had to.

But don't worry, he'll release a second version with all of these features soon and then everyone can spend $500 again buying the new one.

Neutral

Cesar Cardoso @ Mar 6th 2008 8:46AM

I smell Silverlight on this decision.

Oh, and Nokia adopted it, so Apple can say "the leader adopted it, so can we" without remorse.

Neutral

Dale Rankine @ Mar 6th 2008 3:34PM

But Nokia adopted Flash Lite 4-5 years ago, when Silverlight was just a *sparkle* in some Microsoft PM's eye as he thought about how they could have someting as popular as Flash for themselves! IMHO the iPhone is flawed as an internet browsing device while it doesn't support the most installed plug-in in the history of the web (and a flawed smartphone while it's not even 3G).

Neutral

Ed Hardy @ Mar 6th 2008 9:31AM

I'd put Flash in the top five most requested iPhone features, but it's an unfortunate fact of life that companies with successful products have the tendency to start telling their customers what they do and don't need, rather than listening to what people are asking for.

The lack of Flash support in the iPhone means that its web browser is moving down on the list of top mobile browsers. I'd put the browser in the latest Nokia Internet Tablets at the top of the list, closely followed by Skyfire for Windows Mobile. The iPhone browser is in third place.

Neutral

ThePremierAssassin @ Mar 6th 2008 11:08AM

So BASICALLY what this means is that the iPhone that I've been waiting for since it launched last year isn't going to be worth sh*t and that I should instead should just wait ANOTHER year for the iPhone...

Yeah that sucks. i might as well just join AT&T.

Neutral

theregoesdave @ Mar 6th 2008 12:44PM

Sometimes perfectionism can be detrimental. Just don't tell Steve Jobs that!

Neutral

Eric @ Mar 6th 2008 12:56PM

I was under the impression the open sauce libav/libavcodec can decode/play flash. It seems to be working on my N80 and E51.

Neutral

kenneth @ Mar 6th 2008 1:38PM

Woot, iPhone Pro for $1000 w/ flash!

Neutral

nokiarulzz @ Mar 6th 2008 2:26PM

they are lying to our faces for the first time the full web ya right(and the bad part is a lot of people beleive them) this is why i hate apple without the multi touch the iphone is a piece of shit compared to other phones p.s. skyfire is going to change the game its the holy grail REALLY THE FULL WEB on your smartphone o and its fast.Suck on that apple

Highest Ranked

zephead @ Mar 6th 2008 2:31PM

"As he puts it, 'there's this missing product in the middle.'"

Just like the missing product in the middle of the iMac and Mac Pro, eh Steve?

Neutral

Juice @ Mar 6th 2008 7:09PM

every day without flash sucks. How bout at least a .swf player?

Neutral

Daniel Goldman @ Mar 7th 2008 12:53PM

The question is whether Apple will look to SVG as an alternative for Flash. SVG is lightweight, open standard, and is already supported by Firefox, Opera, and Safari.

I've speculated about this on my blog. I guess we'll have to wait and see what happens.

Daniel
Opera Software