Adobe’s getting snarky over the continued absence of Flash on the iPhone, now presenting users with the above message which reads:

Flash Player not available for your device. Apple restricts use of technologies required by products like Flash Player. Until Apple eliminates these restrictions, Adobe cannot provide Flash Player for the iPhone or iPod Touch (sic).

Fair enough. Apple doesn’t allow code interpreters like Flash, Java, SilverLight, etc. on the iPhone. Even Apple’s own media plugin, QuickTime, doesn’t run inline on websites but rather launches a separate player app to show videos.

While the iPhone has an amazing web browser with Safari, it’s still a mobile web browser, and the iPhone doesn’t have anywhere near the CPU power, memory, battery, or other hardware resources that a laptop does, and even laptops can still be hit especially hard by Flash content. Maybe Adobe’s upcoming mobile friendly Flash 10.1 will finally present a really good, optimized, clean (and dare we hope secure and privacy-respectful) version of the plugin.

That is, if we’re getting the true story from either Apple or Adobe (as highlighted by this reddit thread, whether real or parody).

[via Adobe UI Gripes]

This is a story by the iPhone Blog. This feed is sponsored by The iPhone Blog Store.

Adobe Getting Snarky Over Flash on iPhone

Daring Fireball has been linking to some interesting discussions on Adobe’s recent announcement that Flash CS5 will compile “ahead of time” native iPhone binaries that can be submitted, as is, to Apple’s iTunes App Store.

First up, KickingBear reminds everyone to give it a chance before burying it just on concept or principle:

Let’s be frank here – **** the tools. If you’re as deep a fan of the Cocoa tool-chain as I am then you likely came to them as I did – after years of dealing with the drastically inferior. Do I believe Cocoa is still the best tool? Yes, I do. But let’s not pretend that it’s the only tool. Some crazy people may prefer other tools, and we may well think they’re insane for doing so. The proof, however, is in the pudding. And it’s the pudding that our customers buy. I’m in love with my oven and at this point I doubt I’ll ever change it but I have no illusions that fashion won’t pass me by. If Adobe, or anyone else, can produce tools that provide a more compelling application on the iPhone then good for them.

On the flip side, /dev/why takes a look at what’s generated by the current process:

Now, the notion that what this thing emits is indistinguishable from something Xcode emits is laughable. They are very different, and not in a good way. While the apps may get acceptable frame rates on an iPhone 3GS, they don’t on earlier hardware, and they almost certainly uses substantially more power battery than native games.

If you’re interested in the topic, give both articles a read and then let us know what you think.

This is a story by the iPhone Blog. This feed is sponsored by The iPhone Blog Store.

More on Adobe CS5 Flash Compilation for iPhone Binaries

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TiPb Presents: iPhone Live! #70 — Got VoIP?

Since Adobe can’t get Flash on the iPhone — yet — they figure the next best thing is to let Flash CS5 and ActionScript 3 compile native iPhone apps that can be submitted to the iTunes App Store and run on iPhones and iPod touches everywhere.

In fact, Chroma Circuit, Trading Stuff, Fickleblox, Just Letters, South Park, The Roach Game, and Red Hood — all already on the App Store — we also all already developed using Flash and converted to the iPhone.

Like the earlier announcement from Novell about MonoTouch letting .NET compile iPhone apps, Flash is using the same “ahead of time” compilation instead of “just-in-time” to build the native apps.

Some will say this lowers the barrier of entry for developers to gain access to the App Store. We just hope it doesn’t make it so low they trip over it on their way in.

Again, from our point of view, it’s ultimate not about making things easier for developers, it’s about making things better for end-users. It’s not about us getting more apps, it’s about us getting better ones.

If a bunch of brilliant Flash (or .Net or Java or whatever.runtime) developers suddenly cross over and decide to make brilliant apps for the iPhone, then, yay! However, in our experience the truly brilliant developers are the ones who care so deeply about their apps they edit them down to the last sub-pixel level, and tweak the code until it behaves like it was born to the metal. In other words, those developers likely already picked up Cocoa like it wasn’t no thing.

The other ones, the ones who just want to pump out as many $0.99 CrApps as possible — yeah, we’re worried they’re turning our direction, and we have enough of them already, thanks very much.

Are we overly pessimistic? (Though we’re hardly the only ones). Do you think a lot of great Flash games will suddenly make the jump to the iPhone now? If so, name us your favorites, and let us know!

This is a story by the iPhone Blog. This feed is sponsored by The iPhone Blog Store.

Adobe CS5 to Allow Flash to Compile iPhone Apps

Adobe is working on Flash 10.1, which is a version that’s finally supposed to suck less — battery power and cpu cycles, that is. Meaning, it might just be a contender to finally bring acceptable performance to mobile clients like the iPhone sometime in 2010, even if everyone BUT Apple has signed on at this point.

Back up: since the iPhone debuted with the first mobile web client that actually rendered “just the internet”, some users have clamored for Flash. And why now? They were used to that also being on “just the internet”. However, the iPhone was still a mobile device and Flash is still notorious for bloat, bugs, and otherwise non-Mobile friendly behavior (and no, we won’t mention the increased attack vectors runtimes bring to the table, nor the privacy concerns over Flash-cookies, again, okay?)

Steve Jobs himself famously blamed Adobe for having a desktop version that was too big, and a Lite version that didn’t really work, and said Adobe was missing a middle version that would be “just right”.

Well, Flash 10.1 might just be that mythical middle-ground, using the GPU to hardware accelerate it’s renderings. About time. Included as well will be multi-touch and gesture support, and the ability to save state so as not to waste resources when users switch browser “pages”.

This all ties into Adobe’s Open Screen project, whose aim it is to make Flash the platform for dynamic web content on mobile, something Adobe really wants and everyone from competing renderers like Microsoft’s SilverLight, to truly open web advocates aren’t nearly as interested in. Apple, thus far, has been heavily investing in WebKit and technologies like HTML 5, CSS, and JavaScript, which can obviate the need for Flash in many of the place it’s (arguably wrongly) being used today. Likewise, H.264 has brought YouTube, Ustream, Stickam, and other video platforms to the iPhone without Flash wrappers, and HTTP Live Streaming will take that further still.

This has no-doubt been noticed by Adobe, and factored into making Flash 10.1 a much better product. Apple, however, is the last major holdout to announce support (or even interest in) Flash 10.1.

There are still some users who are desperate to get Flash on their iPhone (and NO, not just for porn vidz!), and equally vocal users who consider the iPhone a blissful oasis from the fan noise, heat, drain, slowdown, and punching monkey ad-banners Flash has traditionally brought with it. Of course, Flash is a runtime and a development platform — and Adobe is showing off Flash-developed games — so one major question will be whether Apple is interested in fragmenting their App Store ecosystem beyond the simple WebApps that currently exist.

Check out PreCentral.net for a video of the new Adobe Flash 10.1 beta running on the Palm Pre, then come back and tell us what you want.

This is a story by the iPhone Blog. This feed is sponsored by The iPhone Blog Store.

Adobe Flash 10.1 to Finally be “Just Right” for iPhone?

More than 2 years post-iPhone launch, no news on Flash ever coming to the iPhone, yet Apple is pressing ahead with technologies like H.264 video (YouTube App’s been using it since day one), HTML 5 and CSS animation (iPhone Safari supported them first), HTTP Live Streaming, and now WebGL for hardware accelerated 3D-graphics, and TuneKit, the framework behind the new iTunes LP rich media content.

Read on to find out what they are, how they work, and why they might make plugins like Flash increasingly unnecessary…

Says developer blog Wolfire:

WebGL is basically an initiative to bring 3D graphics into web browsers natively, without having to download any plugins. This is achieved by adding a few things to HTML5, namely, defining a JavaScript binding to OpenGL ES 2.0 and letting you draw things into a 3D context of the canvas element.

This would bring 3D-gaming (or any 3D application) right into the browser with hardware acceleration, with no plugin like Flash needed to hog your memory, heat up your processor, or crash the browser. (Browsers can do all of those things well enough without the extra help). In addition to WebKit (which is the foundation of Apple’s Safari, Google’s Chrome, Palm’s Web, BlackBerry’s just-purchased Torch Mobile, and some Nokia devices), Firefox and Opera are also supporting it. Internet Explorer? Shrug.

TuneKit is the foundation behind iTunes 9’s new iTunes LP and iTunes Extras formats, according to AppleInsider:

Similar to Apple’s use of the SproutCore JavaScript framework to build its MobileMe web apps, TuneKit provides media developers with a familiar JavaScript framework for creating interactive bonus materials. TuneKit, like SproutCore, proves that a proprietary middleware runtime plugin such as Adobe Flash or Microsoft Silverlight is simply unnecessary to deliver this kind of interactive media content, thanks in part to rapid advances in JavaScript rendering engine optimization.

Like TiPb, they couldn’t help but notice the 720p nature of the current iTunes LP and iTunes Extras formats seem destined for the Apple TV, and we’re keeping the oft-rumored iTablet on that list as well.

Adobe Flash on the other hand, still hasn’t produced an optimized version for Mac OS X, never mind iPhone OS X, according to Apple is the number one cause of browser crashes, continues to experience security threats (though Javascript is no angel here either), and is under increasing privacy scrutiny due to Flash cookies. (If you’ve never checked, here’s the page on Adobe’s site that shows which websites are storing information about you in the Flash plugin).

Since, at the end of the day, users don’t care about Flash or WebKit/browser technology, they just want their videos and games, things like WebGL and TuneKit could very well replace large amounts of Flash (and competing formats like SilverLight) on the web, especially the mobile web.

And personally I’m fine with that. A series of cutting edge, specific, highly optimized technologies are sometimes better than aging, overextended architectures anyway (feel free to insert iTunes jokes here).

This is a story by the iPhone Blog. This feed is sponsored by The iPhone Blog Store.

WebGL and TuneKit, Not Flash, the Future for iPhone?

Well, at least kill the need for Flash on the iPhone? Daring Fireball says a simple “yes” to Yahoo! Tech’s question.

The idea is that a standards based technology, open and broadly used, could make redundant proprietary and sometimes bloated and buggy plugins like Adobe Flash, Microsoft Silverlight, and Sun JavaFX.

Apple’s Safari, including Mobile Safari on the iPhone, and Mozilla Firefox are already supporting HTML5 features. Microsoft’s Internet Explorer — so far — isn’t.

The article gives pros and cons for both sides of the debate. Since Apple is introduction the third generation of their iPhone software tomorrow, and still no Flash in sight, we likely have a good idea which way they’re leaning already…

This is a story by the iPhone Blog. This feed is sponsored by The iPhone Blog Store.

Could HTML 5 Kill Flash on the iPhone?

Lately the forums have been on fire and leading up to another iPhone release it is bound to be one wild ride. So now is a perfect time to get yourself registered and join in on the conversation.

Just yesterday Rene started a interesting thread, Are You Running Your iPhone 3G on EDGE and Why? While I understand why some of you may choose to EDGE over 3G, for me, I like to live dangerously, 3G or go home. How about you? Stop by and let Rene know what you think.

This next thread was started by Crackberry veteran forum moderator, Duvi. He simply wants to know, do you think the next iPhone will come with a flash for the camera? Feel free to speculate all you’d like on that one. I’m going with no, it will not have a flash.

Next up we have a thread that yours truly started, it’s simply about the latest iPhone rumors. Is there an EDGE only iPhone in the works? How about a CDMA version for China? And before all of you Verizon hopefuls start to get exited – no, a CDMA version from China would not work on the Verizon network. They use different frequencies. Thoughts?

Poor RIM, I can’t remember such a hyped phone that pretty much just flopped from the very beginning. Enter the BlackBerry Storm. It seems like the in thing to do these days is ditch your Storm for an iPhone 3G. Not a bad move in our opinion and we welcome forum member whsingleton to the good side!

You heard that the App Store is approaching 1 billion app downloads right? Well you could win a $10,000 iTunes gift card and Dizzy wants to know, what would you do with a $10,000 iTunes gift card?!

Our last thread for today comes to us from Ivoryplum. Ivoryplum wants to know what is the average sync time with iTunes? I honestly can’t complain with my syncing. How about you?

So there you have it folks, some really good threads for all of you to check out. Just remember to register first!

See you on the forums!

This is a story by the iPhone Blog. This feed is sponsored by The iPhone Blog Store.

From the Forums: Camera Flash? EDGE Only iPhone?, BlackBerry Storm, iTunes Gift Card, and Sync Time?

At Mobile World Congress in Barcelona today, Adobe took the wrapper off a real for-real version of their desktop Flash player designed (and hopefully optimized) for mobile devices like the iPhone. Well, technically they took the wrappers off the wrappers, since Flash Mobile won’t ship until the end of 2009 on its current schedule, and it won’t support the iPhone even then, only Windows Phone 6.5 (are we allowed to call it WinPho now?), Google Android, Palm Pre, and Nokia. Even these implementations are likely to only ship in 2010.

And the iPhone version? According to Anup Murarka, director of partner development and technology (via Macworld):

“We’ve made a lot of progress, but there is still a lot of engineering work to be done. [...] We’re working with Apple on what we have. We’re committed to make the Flash plug-in work on the iPhone.”

Analysts aren’t so sure, citing lack of low-level system access on the iPhone (and BlackBerry) as limitations, as well as Apple’s preference for their own QuickTime technology.

So, if no news is good news, not much news must be… what exactly then?

This is a story by the iPhone Blog. This feed is sponsored by The iPhone Blog Store.

Adobe Announces “Full” Flash Player for Mobile: iPhone ETA TBA

Just when we thought it was safe to forget about Flash on the iPhone, after Adobe said they were making it, after Steve Jobs said Flash Lite was too little and Flash was too much, after Adobe was reportedly strong-arming PDF for Flash, after Apple advocated AJAX and WebApps instead, after all the tears, and all the fears, is Flash once again on its way to the iPhone? Apple Insider says it might be:

>In an interview with Bloomberg at the Davos, Switzerland event, Adobe chief Shantanu Narayen describes development as a complicated two-way process [...] “It’s a hard technical challenge, and that’s part of the reason Apple and Adobe are collaborating,” he says. “The ball is in our court. The onus is on us to deliver.”

While many complain about the lack of Flash on the iPhone, it’s best to remember that while the iPhone provides the best mobile web experience, it’s not a desktop, and real Flash (not old, outdated, limited Flash Lite) is heavy lifting. Adobe has never properly optimized Flash for OS X, and it remains bloated, buggy, and a battery drain, which are annoying on a laptop but terminal on a mobile device like the iPhone.

If Adobe could make a real iPhone optimized version — preferably a viewer like the QuickTime app so we don’t suffer really poor load times under the assault of all those “punch the monkey” banner ads, it could be a game changer for mobile video.

Or Apple could just use the next time they’re on mic to tell Adobe: “we’re just not that into you”.

Of course, if sites like Hulu start doing what Ustream did, and just making an H.264 version for the iPhone… likely Adobe’s nightmare scenario. And a lot of incentive!

Could this really happen? Do we want it to? And if so, would the world turn upside down? Would it be…

[Thanks to Matt for the tip!]

This is a story by the iPhone Blog. This feed is sponsored by The iPhone Blog Store.

Adobe and Apple Sitting in a Tree, F L A S H To Be?