Thoughts on iPhone, Flash, IE

It’s interesting to see the debate caused by the iPhone debate over Flash.  In the new version of the iPhone Developer Program License Agreement, Apple bans Flash and Monotouch:

3.3.1 — Applications may only use Documented APIs in the manner prescribed by Apple and must not use or call any private APIs. Applications must be originally written in Objective-C, C, C++, or JavaScript as executed by the iPhone OS WebKit engine, and only code written in C, C++, and Objective-C may compile and directly link against the Documented APIs (e.g., Applications that link to Documented APIs through an intermediary translation or compatibility layer or tool are prohibited).

In Adobe’s last SEC filing, they list the iPhone/iPad as a threat to their business.
http://www.sec.gov/Archives/edgar/data/796343/000079634310000007/form_10q.htm#riskfactors

We offer our desktop application-based products primarily on Windows and Macintosh platforms. We generally offer our server-based products on the Linux platform as well as the Windows and UNIX platforms. To the extent that there is a slowdown of customer purchases of personal computers on either the Windows or Macintosh platform or in general, to the extent that we have difficulty transitioning product or version releases to new Windows and Macintosh operating systems, or to the extent that significant demand arises for our products or competitive products on other platforms before we choose and are able to offer our products on these platforms our business could be harmed. Additionally, to the extent new releases of operating systems or other third-party products, platforms or devices, such as the Apple iPhone or iPad, make it more difficult for our products to perform, and our customers are persuaded to use alternative technologies, our business could be harmed.

I had a conversation recently about IE9 and people were asking why is Microsoft spending money and resources to build IE9 now that we have Silverlight.  It makes just no sense to put so much efforts to support HTML 5 in IE because it’s overlapping with Silverlight, no?  Well, what if Chrome became the dominant browser and all of a sudden, Google would remove the object tag?  Would Microsoft be in the same position as Adobe is right now on the iPhone?

What do you think?

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3 Comments

  • Apple is a bunch of communist bastards! F* THEM!

  • Sounds more like fascism than communism ;)

  • A few thoughts. First, Apple is a huge threat to Flash, especially with the market share they are beginning to command in the mobile market. Now, here's why that _really_ matters. Love or hate Apple, their consumers moreso than Android or Windows Mobile users are willing to dish their credit card out for whatever Apple tells them to (I have friends that fit this mold). That means, they, moreso than others will drive the market on what developers are using.

    Second, Flash and Adobe products in general have been huge sources of security flaws. I for one would be fine with not having Flash in lieu of HTML 5 in any browser.

    That said, the benefit of Flash and Silverlight are that these applications are pre-compiled and you can for the most part be sure it will be rendered as you wanted it to be. As we've all experienced, no matter how much browsers promise, they all have their quarks and accounting for that as a web developer is very time consuming. The inception of HTML 5 may finally put the nail in the coffin of IE6 (which again, would be fine by me and plenty of others who spend time accounting for its quarks stills).

    A final thought... IE9 is still relevant, even with Silverlight. IE, though slipping in usage is still the most used browser. That being the case, its a tool for Microsoft to help sculpt the web into doing things it feels are useful (which in turn makes people want to use and buy their products/tools).

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