What’s the deal with Flash on the iPhone? There have been many reports that a lack of Flash support for the iPhone will continue. This is despite the fact that more mobile devices including Blackberry, Palm, and even Google Android (custom installs with wide support coming next year), are building up support for the web technology. Whether you love Flash sites or hate them, Flash is a prevalent technology, meaning that users require some sort of support on popular user agents, and if no support, then a good explanation for its absence.
According to Adobe, the developers of Flash have been attempting for over a year to work with Apple to get Flash loadable on iPhones, but are not getting the support from Apple that they need. And why not? According to an article from PC World Magazine, speculation includes two main reasons now. One, a lack of support for Flash on iPhones based on their one-app-at-a-time functionality, which could make users unable to access other features in Safari or other web browsers on the iPhone. And two, far more likely also, is Apple’s heavy involvement with the development of HTML 5, which promises to make plugin applications a thing of the past, ultimately. They’re already testing HTML 5 in browsers. It is important to note that Apple has not come out and said there will be no Flash support on the iPhone, but chances are, it’s going to take a long time if it comes at all.
So Adobe has come up with a solution. In an effort to keep Flash relevant, usable, and adaptable on the Internet, according to an article in yesterday’s Computer World, an announcement was made at the Adobe Max conference that Adobe Systems has developed a workaround for Flash developers who want to work with the iPhone. It will not be able to run in the Safari browser due to Apple’s license terms, and will not be able to compile runtime code. It will, however, allow Flash developers to compile things written for other mobile devices, and reinterpret them as standalone applications for the iPhone.
This feature will initially be available in Flash CS5 Professional only, out in beta soon. If it solves the problem of Flash on the iPhone, we can look forward to its adoption in other versions of the Flash CS5 software as well.
