Adobe Slams Apple for iPad's Lack of Flash
Adobe says that the iPad, without Flash, will miss out on the majority of web games and video.
Apple may tout the iPad as the best web browsing experience, but what about Flash? Love it or hate it, you can barely go through a handful of clicks before running into an Adobe-flash powered element.
Flash has been an important part of the web, and it'll be something that iPad won't have out of the box when it ships in late March. While the omission of Flash was excusable on the iPod Touch and iPhone, competing devices today run Flash, which makes the iPad omission even more glaring.
Adobe's Adrian Ludwig, the company's Flash Platform Product Marketing Group Manager, wrote in a blog post:
It looks like Apple is continuing to impose restrictions on their devices that limit both content publishers and consumers. Unlike many other ebook readers using the ePub file format, consumers will not be able to access ePub content with Apple's DRM technology on devices made by other manufacturers. And without Flash support, iPad users will not be able to access the full range of web content, including over 70% of games and 75% of video on the web.
If I want to use the iPad to connect to Disney, Hulu, Miniclip, Farmville, ESPN, Kongregate, or JibJab -- not to mention the millions of other sites on the web -- I'll be out of luck.
Adobe and more than 50 of our partners in the Open Screen Project are working to enable developers and content publishers to deliver to any device, so that consumers have open access to their favorite interactive media, content, and applications across platform, regardless of the device that people choose to use.
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XD_dued iFail. I have to agree with what others have said, there really seems to be no purpose for this device...just a giant ipod touch minus portability. I would rather get a netbook any day.Reply -
stryk55 One of the first of what will be an ever growing developers shut out by Apple, all in the name of product exclusivity...Reply
Apple is heading towards the bridges with their torches lit... -
wussupi83 Even apple fans have to respect the arguement that it was a poor decision for apple to be so closed minded.Reply -
razorblaze42 Until Adobe can prove it can build secure software, can’t say I blame anyone for steering clear of them.Reply -
rawoysters razorblaze42Until Adobe can prove it can build secure software, can’t say I blame anyone for steering clear of them.Reply
Like Adobe or not it is difficult to live without Flash. Try it for a while without it and see how it goes. -
gilbertfh I believe this all has more to do with Apple wanting us to download apps to line thier pocketbooks both from the consumer and from the companies that make the apps and produce the content.Reply -
gilbertfh Oh by the way rawoysters companies are dropping flash. HTML5 will do away with the need for programs like Silverlight and Adobe Flash. One example of a company that is currently in the works of switching is Youtube. See the attached link.Reply
http://www.readwriteweb.com/archives/youtube_begins_to_support_html5.php -
osxsier Sure HTML5 may become a standard at some point, but flash will be around for a while and it currently dominates the web in regards to video, cant deny that.Reply