Adobe not happy about iPhone's lack of Flash

I feel comfortable that Apple is doing the right thing by restricting Flash on the iPhone. I wonder if the use of Flash would create security issues if used on the iPhone? I argue the comment above that users routinely lament the loss of nearly all online video content. All the video I'm interested in seeing is always present with the use of QuickTime.

I support Apple not allowing the full versions of Flash to be used on it's devices. As a Mac user, sometimes PC when needed, I find that Flash sites are getting out of control. People are trying to add more than what is needed to get their points across. Using a lot of resources to build a Flash page can bog down load time and movement, even if you streamlined or optimized every aspect. With a desktop version, it seems pretty harmless, but I have found that even with a speedy computer, some Flash sites take forever to load. Throw that into the handset arena and you are simply asking for trouble. Shorter battery life, sluggish load times–specifically due to the lack of RAM memory or standard memory to run such Flash applications. Not to mention that the 3G/4G networks aren't like a directly plugged in cable line to your our modem. Although Adobe has a great product in Flash, it needs to reconsider it's position for the hand-held sets and develop a Flash app designed for hand sets. Like websites for the desktop generation have to built and scaled down for hand sets, Flash will have to be as well. To blame Apple is unfair and not the right tack to take, but hopefully it will get developers talking and trying to find a common area where they can co-exist.

wtf is wrong with apple just give us flash like we want who cares if it slows browsing down. Its not like a phone browser is uber fast anywayz. Geez steve jobs let go of the monoply!!

Personally I am very happy not having Flash on my iPhone. Outside of Video I don't really see the need for it. With Mobile Safari pretty much anything you can do in Flash you can do with straight html/css/javascript. Almost all Flash content I see are ads and I have no desire to see more adds in my mobile browser. Not to mention the increased bandwidth that I will be paying for (remember, the unlimited Data plan is not really unlimited). I have read a lot of articles covering people complaining about the lack of Flash on the iPhone, but I have yet to read any good reasons as to why it should be the iPhone.

I'm a Software Developer - and I love both Apple and Flash - but here's a basic fact - Flash is a "Resourch Hog" program. It's written in such a way that it's very easy for sloppy Flash Code to hijack the processing power of a device.

On an iphone-style device, it could lead to excessive battery drain - not to mention extreme slowness.

Apple is really, really smart to restrict flash until they can write a version of their program where poor coders (not Adobe, but developers using Adobe products) cannot lock up devices or cause devices to work too hard .

Flash is currently what makes the web go round. It is sorry that every other smart phone has flash but the Iphone doesn't

Flash is a known resource hog. It seems to me that Apple is most concerned about the impact of any given app on device performance. I think they're waiting for an efficient version of Flash before allowing it. I'm just not buying that they're doing it to hurt Adobe. It's hurting Apple more not to have Flash installed on the iPhone.

As a flash developer and a true Apple fan, it is unfortunate but true that Apple poses restrictions on any executable code to be run on the iPhone or iPod touch. Since flash has the ability to execute code that communicates to system devices and external programming technologies such as Javascript, Apple restricts the technology as it could drain battery life, but more importantly open the door for security hacks.

Adobe, on the other hand, already has security measures in place that protect client devices from being hacked using the flash player. The fact of the matter is developers like myself would be able to build customized games and applications that can run on the iPhone and can be sold consumers outside of iTunes. This is a multi-million dollar threat to the business of Apple as there are thousands of flash developers building games and applications on several gaming sites on the internet.

Lastly, Apple's Quicktime brand is the sole video streaming technology used in the iPhone and obviously Apple will need to protect that brand as well. If Flash opens up on the iPhone, all of us who manage Adobe's Flash Media Server for enterprise level CDNs would be able to stream videos without having to license the Quicktime technology or conforming to develop videos in the Quicktime format.

So to end this barrage of information, it is within Apple's best interest that Adobe's Flash does not get released on their devices. If so, the cost of losing business with their Quicktime brand and iTunes may not justify the increase in revenue of new iPhone users.

I agree with Apple on this one. Adobe Flash is riddled with vulnerabilities that are constantly being found all the time on windows platforms. Apple is making the right decision to stay away; saying it is also a resource hog is just an added bonus to not support it. When Adobe gets on the ball and fixes Flash's badly written code, for windows AND for smartphones, then maybe Apple will look into it. Until then, even on my PC, I disable flash until I want it to play.

I was basically a die-hard fan of Apple products for the past 3 years after buying an Apple system after using Windows my whole life. I switched back to Windows earlier this year, mostly because I was disappointed with Apple's product offerings and often anticompetitive practices. The lack of Flash for the iPhone is a major faux pas for Apple; the company says it wants to avoid duplication of the iPhone's capabilities (i.e. animation) by a non-Apple program, but Apple is, as the article writer points out, preventing iPhone users (including me) from accessing a large portion of the Web. Come on, Apple. Stop navel-gazing and make your devices standards-compliant!

Flash is a big CPU drain on OS X which leads me to believe it would be just as inefficient on iPhone which uses a version of OS X. Adobe needs to refine its technology for OS X/Linux before more mobile carriers will implement anything from them.

Also, Adobe, what are your plans for Business Catalyst? Are you going to bundle that with your next version of Creative Suite?

DROID DOES!!!!!

just jailbreak your iphone if you want stuff apple doesnt want you to have

Its simple. Apple isn't so much limiting technology as it is re-routing the way iPhone users watch their media. Who would buy tv shows from the iTunes Store if you could watch them on Hulu from your iPhone. Savvy?

The lack of flash on the iphone is absurd. Doesn't safari support it? Doesn't practically every browser on the planet support it? I have an iphone and love it. Other phones are catching up. If Apple doesn't get this sorted out soon I will bail. I can't even view my own website on it !
If security is the issue why am I not given the choice to either use flash or not?
THIS IS ALL ABOUT MONEY not security, not CPU cycles.

I'm not a flash programmer but have seen high end PCs brought to their knees by Flash-heavy websites. I don't know whether it's memory leaks, CPU demands, or what, but I can't imagine ANY smartphone would do well with some of these sites or games. For those with Flash-enabled smartphones, how is the user-experience on Flash sites and games? Perhaps Apple has tested this on the iPhone and wants to avoid potential meltdown problems. For the Apple conspiracy theorists, I can't imagine the billion+ apps-popularity that Apple generated WITHOUT the benefit of Flash will be hampered too much either way. The Newton's time has finally come and its name is iPhone!

Apple has every right to decide what should be allowed on their device. Flash is a huge resource HOG! I sure wouldn't want to work in the RMA deptartment if Flash was allowed. People would call all the time saying their iPhone is defective. And instead of it getting any better, the lastest version of Flash (10) is the worst.

I wish that Apple would be reasonable on this issue. It would be a great selling point that their devices can now run flash programs, and if they were worried about people complaining about flash being sluggish it could be disabled by default. I dont really get why they think that flash programs could realistically compete with App store programs, though – you'd need to load the flash program every time you run it.

Is Apple being, well frankly, Too-Apple with their "restrictions" on flash for the iPhone? Yes but they need to.

Being a previous iPhone user (I couldn't wait for 3GS, nor did I want to stay with AT&T) I found that it was an excellent device with the caveat that you must use Apple's software. Not that you had a lot of choice for most core functions. Much like the Macs, venturing out into the wild world of non-Apple software, using other than Apple solutions will being heartache and frustration.

Is this intentional? Will anyone debate that with a few exceptions, Microsoft isn't the top choice for software on PCs? They make the OS and leave the rest to the marketplace. Apple is the exact opposite.

Apple is more controlling of the user experience, with better results, and as long as you stay with what comes on a Mac or iPhone most people will be happy. Add 3rd party apps and you'd better have your own tech blog or you'll find yourself at the Genius Bar twice a month looking like a abandoned puppy.

Is Apple keeping Flash off the iPhone? Yes.
Would allowing it on the iPhone ruin the device for the non-tech user (snail-speed, crashing, security, battery life, ect)? Yes.

If you were Mr Jobs, what would you do? Me, I would allow Flash, but then again, I sold my iPhone to someone who never bought an app for it, broke the screen and still swears it is the best phone ever. Go figure.

The iPhone does not multi-thread applications (aside from their own apps that are pushed, such as text messages), so I find it hard to believe that if someone has Safari open on their iPhone, are trying to run a page with Flash and are becoming frustrated with load times that they wouldn't simply kill Safari, reopen and navigate on to something else.

Bandwidth speed can't be argued because the 3G connection in my area usually gives me a 1.5mb down speed. That's the average in-home bandwidth speed still seen across the nation.

I use both Macs and PCs–I'm an IT person. What frustrates me with using Apple products is I feel forced to adapt and do without certain applications and usually have to find a "work around". I feel that with the Flash issue and have learned to just tolerate not having it. My life goes on all the same. But, with other smart phones adapting Flash into their browsers, I don't see why Apple can't do the same.

I think, too, that AT&T probably has a lot to do with it, as they had to go through intense infrastructure upgrades to handle the deployment of MMS on the iPhone. I'm sure the hit from enabling Flash would be three fold the impact of MMS.

As anyone who has used Adobe software knows, it is amazingly bloated. And Duh, There is no way in its current form that Flash would even run on the iphone. Think about it. Has anyone ran a flash intensive site on a even moderately old computer that does not have a souped up graphics card?

There is no way that it would run on a slow ( by todays computer standards ) processor with no dedicated graphics acceleration.

Apple is keeping people from being frustrated using the products they make.

And Adobe, STREAMLINE.. Not just flash.

And PS, Why cant After Effects Play sound in real time? A 486 has more than enough horsepower to play 44.1... How bout a few sub routines??? And yes, You can keep Sync. Its called Time code. Quick encode on import and walla, no more ram sound previews. Oh Yeah, and OpenGL would be nice to.

I think this is a catch 22 that nobody ever wins.... And not worth the debate. Here's why.

1) Flash is absolutely a resource intensive environment and Adobe could and should do some work in new versions to dramtically reduce the power it consumes. It would decrease the experience and lower battery life and people would then blame the Iphone for issues.

2) Since then App store has come out – and it works. it's seamless and offers the consumers a gaurantee of compatibility. Which can't be done elsewhere. Why would Apple want to mess with a revenue stream that enhances the iphone experience to allow one to exist that retracts from it.

The Experience is critical in the Phone market. Users today switch phones quickly. Apple is doing the right thing for the market and for consumers. And any software developer can publish to the app store and make money. Why fix what's not broken ???

I'm also a software developer. There is no good excuse in my opinion for there not to be flash on the iphone it's the one thing that really bothers me about it. Sure, it CAN be heavy on the resources but it doesn't have to be. If an iphone app developer really messes up he can cause the same issues with an iphone app.

What it all comes down to is apple's greed. If a particular flash app causes you browsing problems simply exit out of the site and don't go back. I don't need apple to babysit me while I'm using the product I paid for. I may have an iphone but I'm by no means an apple user in fact I'm strongly against the company specifically for these kind of reasons. I'm all for flash on the iphone, there is no legitimate reason why it is not there 3 years in. Absurd.

apple and their restrictions are out of line. The vast majority of web video on the internet are flash based. Adobe has a working version of flash for the iPhone that is not anywhere near as resource intensive as flash on a PC (flash lite). Apple then complains and says it is not good enough we will only consider a full version of flash. Adobe creates a full feature version for mobile platforms and Apple then says it is too resource intensive and you can't implement it that way. It really seems like Apple is just trying to get web content providers to adopt QuickTime as their preferred video codec over flash. Apple shame on you and and another thing leave AT&T once Verizon rolls out LTE so iPhone users like myself can actually use the phone. AT&T wireless' coverage is a joke!!! All I can say is as soon as my contract is up I'm going back to Verizon iPhone or not.

I'm sorry but, have people lost their ability to do some double checking before posting? To just do a few simple searches and see if there are any patches or complaints in the past few months, past year on Quicktime and iTunes?

So many comments posted in regards to Flash being a resource hog, and yet there are several documented issues in regards to Quicktime and iTunes, as well as recent security patches released for Quicktime.

No app is perfect. Apple is limiting your right to use the device, claiming they are 'protecting' you and the device. It's been pointed out already that other smartphones readily allow you to use Flash. It's been pointed out already that Flash has become a fundamental of the web for interactive media and streaming. Apple is not trying to protect you. They could easily wave any responsibility for what you download and how it affects the iPhone. There is a 99% probability that they already have a waiver in their Terms that state such.

They [Apple] do not want the competition that Flash would bring, and would love to have you feel it's because of performance issues and security invulnerabilities. Yet, a simple search yields the obvious truth: their own products aren't fully secure or optimized.

I want JAVA in my iphone more than the out-dated, so last year flash that only good at fading in and out. SO annoying to watch those web pages with flash. JAVA is way more practical!

This is ridiculous, and in the end, will come back to bite apple in the butt.

I just want a Hulu app.

I think Apple is afraid that Flash apps will directly effect sales in their app store. I build flash websites and the possibilities of having Flash apps introduced to the iPhone will be endless. I think developers of Flash app's will flood the market with more games and software you could shake a stick at. Apple has a valad point in there agument "Performance reasons" Flash is labor intensive and I don't think the iPhone or any other smart phone could handle the power problems. You would be recharging you phone every hour or two. Look at the up coming Droid phone. It has swappable batteries.... Why have interchangeable batteries? That tells me that the phone is going to suck power faster. So now a person has to carry around a battery case on there belt.

In responsoe to Jervis. I think you just made Adobe's case: "All the video I'm interested in seeing is always present with the use of QuickTime"

Quicktime is an apple product, Flash is not. This smells like Microsoft and IE.

Ofcourse the iphone should support flash. They should also allow a toggle that allows one to either choose to allow or deny flash functioning.
I guess most of the comments here are provided by employees of apple or people who don't have smart phones.

Just give us Flash already, or I'm buying a droid next time!!!

To be clear regarding my comment above...
I have learned that It is industry demand that calls for the use of QuickTime vs. Flash to downsize video while maintaining best quality; It is the quality of image that has demanded the creation of high-resolution HD screens/sets we now use; and it is QuickTime that gives us the quality we need, not Flash.
I imagine that as time moves on we as a society will demand visual/audio clarity with all our content...as we now do with the television image. Imagine watching a feature film presented in Flash on your HD set. Would that be an acceptable format? Why not start with quality...in the end we demand it.
As far as RAM usage, security issues, etc., I'll leave that up to the ones in the lead in today's deliverables. And from what I'm now witnessing, it is Apple.

I think users should have the option of installing or not. There's a lot of people who don't care about flash player so don't install it! If you install you may have to deal with all the issues you already know. This is called freedom and that's why Iphone is so popular anyways.

I thins Flash Player will use to much of iPhone's resources. I think that's the main reason (but not only) Apple restrict the flash. I think if users could navigate the internet on iPhone with and without flash will choose not to use the flash version because it will bring much much sluggishness.

Flash can be used and viewed on the iPhone in multiple ways, even flash video. First get logmein and go to your home pc browser and you will be able to view flash based websites.

Then if you really want flash video on your iPhone you will need a slingbox, a slingcatcher and logmein. Use logmein to activate the slingcatcher software to stream a site like hulu or netflix to the slingcatcher. Then have the slingcatcher's output get sent to the slingbox. Then use the slingbox software on the iPhone to view the video. It is a big pain, but it does work.

Apple isn't limiting flash for any technical reason, they just don't want people buying flash applications outside of the iTunes store.

Hello, I am Ravel Anderson, and I am from Brazil. I think Apple has its reasons to fail to include Flash Player on your main phone. But it would be great if Apple would stop restricting the use of Flash Player on iPhone.

Apple needs to allow Flash on the iPhone if it wants to survive in the smartphone market - plain and simple. Upcoming Android handets will have this feature and in time, as wireless bandwidth increases people will realize they can watch high-quality Flash videos on their handset just like they can on their own computer and they don't need to download Apple's proprietary format of video and soon the iPhone will lose market-share. As appealing as Apple products are, they are out for profit just like any company and fear they could affect their business model of selling movies + tv shows online if they were to allow Flash playback. I don't disagree Flash playback can be a CPU or battery hog but it's no more a power-hog than many CPU-demanding apps already on sale in the app store.

If Apple wants to survive they need to make their product as good as it can possibly be.

Flash has my Macbook overheating everytime. And I am not alone, see this: http://tinyurl.com/ykzjcug.

Apple is definitely making the right move to avoid having a bunch of iPhone melting because of Flash intensive pages!

And Adobe should keep it low profile: this crap issues are widely spread and there is no sign of a resolution anytime soon.

They are doing it to lock users into whyTunes and and the oppressive app store. All the noise about opposing flash because is it proprietary is a distraction. Apple has to be the very epitome of hypocrisy. I believe they are also afraid that if they allow the device to become to useful too fast they will not be able to force the upgrade treadmill down the consumer's throat. Why else would they have blocked the original iPhone via software (it is hardware capable) from being capable of tethering, MMS, voice dialing, and video? All of these can be enabled after jailbreaking. That's like windows blocking IM apps or new USB drivers, etc on any machine over 2 years old to force you to buy a new computer. The DOJ would be on them so fast.. so maybe they should be all over Apple now. Time to put the shoe on the other foot and knock Steve off his imaginary pedestal.

Apple is doing this purely to promote their technologies. It is 100% true that they are promoting their own QuickTime platform over Flash, and 100% true that they are protecting the profits from their iTunes store by restricting Flash on their phone. As a web developer I use flash on almost every site, but certainly not to create a terrible flash web site. Rather it is used to as an image rotator and in fact Flash XML has become a defacto standard to run image rotators online.
Boo Apple! I have the iPhone so come on Steve, lighten up and allow some competition into your monopolistic empire!

I do not agree with the competitiveness of Apple. I have an iPhone, and it makes things very difficult without flash. Just because Apple doesn't want to compete with Adobe doesn't mean it should limit their customers. On some sites, Flash is needed just to see the website, and it frustrates me and I'm sure a bunch of other people as well.

While Flash has its place, its also becoming overused. Some developers feel its synonymous with a 'Rich Internet Application' (RIA). Yes, Flash can deliver a RIA, but it also can deliver resource drag, bandwidth problems, and huge challenges around SEO/SEM.

Adobe needs to optimize Flash for mobile devices first and solve the SEO challenges while they're at it.

I used to love apple but apple is going to screw up this market just like they did on the PC market. Proprietary everything in one package. Android is going to be the windows of phones and the iphone will be a sideline. Not that apple won't make money–but there will be 20x as many Android-based phones as there are iPhones in five years. And that means 20x as much developer interest in building apps.

I can totally believe this, apple has been successful in creating a fad and smearing Microsoft with annoying commercials. I will never buy an apple product(not even an ipod). They need to get their stuff together, lower their prices and stop unfairly smearing Microsoft.

Adobe would slow down the iphone's performance tremendously. Enough said. Good choice Apple.

What about allowing it but preventing it from running unless the user selects it (as in Click2Flash which many of us use on the Mac in Safari)?

I was an avid pro-PC person for years and within the last 2 years, I have made the move to Mac(and iPhone), and love it. One thing that I can say, however is that I get annoyed at those Mac versus PC commercials all the time, because all they do is boast how a Mac does everything and a PC does nothing. Honestly, having my hands in just about every OS possible, I think those commercials are not exactly correct. That being said, I think that in the mobile device market, it might be a smart idea to beat the iPhone by using the same tactic, and pointing out that they don't support the Flash Player. I think that eventually, people will tire of their apps, as they will cost too much money. Last time I checked, most Flash Content was free. And it seems a bit hippocritical to provide it on Safari on the MacOS, but not on the Mobil Safari. Come on Apple-it's the bandwidth, isn't it? I pay $100 per month for what?

Even though Flash is resource intensive, I feel as though the iphone can handle it just fine. I think it's absurdly obvious that Apple has restricted the use of these technologies simply because of the potential loss of profit through their App. Store. Why pay for games when you can have access to hundreds of flash games for free? Apple has never been a "giving" company.

Apple's fear that Flash Apps would compete with the iTunes App store is not unreasonable. But perhaps a halfway meeting would be acceptable. Flash support doesn't have to be given to Safari on the iPhone. In the interest of building readable content, I wouldn't use Flash anyway.

However, allowing developers to use Flash in developing Apps could go a long way in expanding the pool of developers. Agencies who work predominantly in Flash can easily deploy their Flash Apps to the iPhone through a method similar as using Adobe AIR. These Apps would still have to be made available from the iTunes store.

I would like to say that Shirley (above), Apple does not have every right to decide what should be allowed on their device. The fact is that when one buys an iPhone, it becomes ONE'S OWN device. Yes, of course you can jailbreak your iPhone, but this of course voids the Warranty among other things.

While I am happy with the iPhone I do not like Apple's philosophy about what its customers are and aren't allowed to do with their products once they pay for and take possession of it (i.e. view flash content or use and American iPhone in Japan, but that is a whole other topic).

Last, do you really want some guy at the table next to you or sitting across the aisle on the train or subway to be watching porn the whole time? Let's not ignore the white elephant in the room here, people.

Apple is like your kind big brother. Your brother is looking out for you, right? You are not smart enough to make these choices about what you allow to run on your phone, so just let Apple make them for you. After all, big brother always has only _your_ best interests in mind.

I wish the iPhone would get flash, especially as someone who manages a flash game website

It's not like Apple is actually limiting anyone's choices, guys – you have a choice what phone you buy, and the consequence of your choice is that you get certain features but not others. Grow up.

I have always suspected an unwritten agreement between Apple, YouTube and telecommunications carriers. Apple promotes YouTube alot. Also, consider the free movie and TV sites that people would watch through there iPhone and thus not require TV package fees through telecommunication carriers, which will continue to become more and more popular. So, don't be surprised if Apple continues to restrict media access for as long as they can get away with it.

Flash is a resource hog, no doubt, but it is available on phones and devices with worse specs then the iphone and ipod touch. It is a matter of control, apple is against anything not apple they are a consumer electronics company in the vein of sony. A large belligerent electronics giant that isn't at all interested in their users, they are only interested in the almighty dollar and pushing their proprietary nonsense. I understand people need to feel superior to others while still having some ties to a common group, It's adds thrive off of that part of the human mind, there wouldn't be fanboys (and girls) if this wasn't the case. But if you really are that upset about the way apple handles it's electronics, don't buy apple and get involved in the user based communities that utilize open source.

I am a Java developer but have also been developing in Flash since version 2.0. I see less security issues with flash then any platform I've ever coded in. Any developer can write poor applications that hog memory but I and many other flash developers do not do so. I think this is definitely Apple wanting to keep their corner of the market and they are using the cpu memory excuse as a way to do so. Furthermore, flash can be written at least two different ways. A creative designer can create flash with no coding experience. Yes, that could cause memory issues. Flash can also be created from a code perspective. Code wise there are plenty of tools available from Adobe to keep memory use down to a minimum. Best practices are for the most part well documented. So . . . Apple. Allow flash on the iphone.

I'm both a web developer and a video producer. Not many people bother to encode in both Flash and Quicktime. They do Flash only. That is why the author says that iPhone virtually eliminates the ability to enjoy video on the web.

Every other device can use Flash. Apple is only hurting themselves. I would have bought an iPhone except for its inability to support Flash.

I don't understand all of the folks here who have said Flash is a memory "hog". I my experience, it's not the technology that's at fault, it's the way people use it to create these overly complex sites that take forever to load. Just like an html site with gobs and gobs of images take forever to load. Should we ban the browser from mobile devices altogether? The moral of the story is this . . . the responsible use of Flash to display things that NEED to be animated to get the point across should not be restricted.

I completely understand why apple has limited Flash on the iphone, but I am against taking the control out of the users hands. Yes it might sacrifice performance, but let the user make that decision, then you will ultimately prove your point by letting people see for themselves: Flash is a 'resource hog'. It's very disappointing that a device so advanced like the iphone has such basic restrictions. Too bad....

I'm with Apple. I avoid Adobe products where possible. Their "hogware" slows up my system and their customer service is the worst. If anyone has a monopoly it is them.

I think it's time Apple added flash to the "non-watered down web browser" they promised us when the first rev of the phone came out.

Flash-Forward (no pun intended) to a few years later, we still do not have flash access to the widely popular phone.

Apple told to us when we first got the original phone that most flash sites do not utilize the touch screen navigation, we argued by simply pointing them to our site (now 10 years old) which is entirely based in flash and requires the user to click and navigate through the virtual world.

It's crazy that we still don't have flash on this incredible phone..

truly,

Mojotown

Programmers nowadays care less about how much memory their applications consume. Pc:s and Mac:s got plenty of memory nowadays..1gig..6gigRAM... They build applications with IDE and RAD systems fast and expect ppl to upgrade their computers and broadband connections to meet the internet demands to be able to view the latest web content. In the computing stoneage there was not so much memory to spend for the programmer, a pc had say 640kB Ram for use with applications when the operating system where in place..The programmer had to make the programs efficient and lean to be able to work properly with the rest of the OS. The problem lies with Adobe, not Apple. Adobe should develop a flash for small gadjets with less cpu and memory and website constructors could use this if they want visitors with mobile phones.

Im am with the rest of pissed off Iphone users that can not view flash video. And what is with the Blue box ? marks? im fed up with those as well. its kind of like the boxes with the red x's on PC's.

Anyways, I think there are flash apps out there if the phone is jailbroken. I have jailbroke my phone numerous times and have gone back to the original firmware. I wouldnt mind the ability to customize the app bottons and backgrounds without having to jailbreak my phone. Apple is unfortunately a stickler on customization and doing things other than thier way. Im over it though. Phone is great. finally got 3g in my area except by my house. Other than that im happy with it.

While Apple is the type of company to hide behind "technical issues" in order to freeze out a potential competitor for services on their products, in this case Apple might be better off to let Flash on their products. It would give Apple the appearance of allowing open competition on their products, while all the potential(and PROBABLE!) resource and performance issues that Flash will cause will lead to alot of backlash to Adobe to answer for. The results should lead to a lot of Flash apps, games, etc to lose some market share/prestige and lead to alot of new and expanded use/interest in other possible technologies(i.e. Apple items from their iTune Apps Store). It would lead to both a public relations bonanza as well as pad their earnings. Only Apple would be so closed minded about allowing competition in a situation where they have nothing to lose due to the competition being ill suited to run on Apple's products. Penny smart, Dollar stupid!

My iphone is great buT NO FLASH makes browsing suck, I want my hand held device to function like my laptop, I want control over what I download and when, not the maker of my device. It seems that my iphone is more of a dummy terminal with preloaded software than I thought, makes me wonder what the 30 dollar a month extra charge is for?

Apple does what they have been doing since day one. Gaming the system to propagate themselves as elite, when in reality they are fragile and weak. They know Flash means money lost. And every dollar counts to Apple. Especially in the mobile market because they do not get their corporate power from Mac PC sales.

Make no mistake,. Apple HATES Adobe, and they have a vendetta. Apple has stripped all of the Flash off their own homepage. What is the technical reasoning behind that? Hate. That's what. Adobe is the #1 threat to Apples new founded software service. And Apple engineers the removal of hardware and software competition as part of their business model.

So personally, I Game Apple right back. I only use Macs if provided by my employers and NEVER ONCE have purchased an Apple product. EVER. And my mobile experience is fine, my HP computers are fast, clean and upgradable. My Sandisk Sansa MP3/M4v player is awesome, AND has a radio.

If it were NOT for itunes and the itunes app, Apple, would be a foot note in a text book.

Wahhh – the iphone can't handle flash. Maybe it's because Macs suck!

I can understand Apple's reluctance to allow Flash. Adobe is guilty of creating bloatware apps that suck too many resources to operate. Until software vendors like Adobe stop being lazy and write some quality, efficient software, manufacturers like Apple need to restrict their use.

Microsoft was told this in no uncertain terms when it was developing Windows 7, and they in turn went after the hardware vendors and told them to clean up the software that is included with their system that is slowing down the user experience.

There is finally some movement in the right direction.

no flash sucks, apple should not be making decision for customers about what is best for them, nor should any tech do that. people should be given the facts and let them decide for themselves what is best for them. not having flash sucks cant watch any of my movies. i think they are doing it not to have someone competing with itunes apps.

What? No flash? I won't buy an Iphone ever.

The open DROID will soon force them to rethink Apple's decision not to allow Flash.

ill bet this whole thing is about apple not wanting to pay royalties to adobe or something like that. either that or they see it as potentially competing with itunes in someway or another. either way....the only reason i would need flash support honestly is to watch porn because youtube, CNN and most other news sites have their own apps. and who watches porn on their phone?

You Mac fanatics are so predictable. Write-ups like this could be used as case studies for phsychology students.

It's as simple as this. Nearly anyone that needs something simple, but clean/nice/cheap posted to the web is going to use flash. Quicktime is not going to resolve the overwhelming user base of IBM cloan systems and software. If Apple can't supply a solution, they need to take the lock off the door.

The internet is never going to comply with Apple no matter how bright and shiney they get or how many iphones they sell. Restricting widely used software is nothing but another limitation to a "could be" great phone... that is actually years behind on many functions and apps.

PS – The reason is not security and performance impacts should be the end-users decision.

Apple is already DEAD. They just don't know it yet. They are in the same boat as VMWare. Every mom and pop pc maker and phone vendor will have touch screens and flash and you name it, especially with Android. Might as well switch now. Apple can't learn the lessons of the past. They are WAY too focused on hardware. New shiny hardware has a VERY short shelf life.

VMWare is the same way. Everyone's got a hypervisor now.

It is a most uniwse move for Apple not allowing the flash considering the amount of sites that utilize it, especially streaming video sites. Of course, I wouldn't expect anything less from Apple. But Microsoft is the big bad man and oh, they allow flash on Windows Mobile enabled phones. Everyone jumps on the Apple bandwagon without doing any research into what exactly the iPhone can and cannot do. They just buy it because it's the "cool" gadget these days. I'd rather have a Windows Mobile phone than the iPhone anyday.

who cares about the iphone, its a scam to lock users into a large data bill though expensive providers, who a sub standard experience for the non informed.
not having Flash is like eating a hamburger or hotdog without ketchup or mustards..boring and dry.
wake up and stop making apple rich for telling you what is good for you.

Another monopolistic Apple move and it's getting really old. Don't believe Apple's smokescreen about device performance degradation if Flash is employed on its devices. So what? Like some have said, it's not like your iPhone is some super powerful desktop or something.

This is ultimately about Apple's QuickTime application and trying to prevent inroads from Flash applications that could compete with the iPhone App Store. In response to this article, I just uninstalled the Safari browser from my desktop. I never used it anyway.

Apple is just like another Microsoft, trying to strangle competition and giving the public less just so it can try to control the entire market. I don't own any Apple devices and have no plans to. I also found a way to disable iTunesHelper.exe, iPodService.exe and another program that Apple installs on your computer when you install QuickTime and that use enough of your system resources in the background. Makes no sense when you don't even own an i-device. I'm getting more and more tired of Apple's business practices...

I am reading this with Firefox, my favorite browser. When I set up a new installation the first thing I do is download and install flashblock. Bloated, slow, and by far the favorite tool of offensive advertisers Adobe Flash is responsible for web pages lighting up like Christmas trees. All I have to do is move my mouse across the page and windows fly open, music blares, and videos start playing. Adobe needs to understand that this product needs some serious housebreaking.

Maybe Adobe should just quit their whining and spend the time & money to come up with their own phone. Then they can make sure Safari won't run on it…

Come on. If there is a chance of performance impact then Apple can force a warning when the flash player is installed about these limitations. The iPhone does Wifi, Bluetooth, supports Skype, push email with Exchange (Activesync) and even Rhapsody online music player. Many of these are big battery drains and some are CPU hogs. They are obviously singling out certain apps (Flash and some others like Google Voice) for business/political reasons.

How can the iPhone worry about Flash as a resource hog? The problem is that the battery life of its device is the worst engineered design ever conceived. Try replacing it...ha! Surprise!

The best battery saving technique strategy by Apple was in choosing AT&T as their sole carrier. There service is so bad in metropolitan areas that a lot of people end up in voice mail mode as there is no signal available for data services. Makes the question of supporting Flash a moot point.

I bought a third generation Ipod 32 GB and the fact that you dont have flash, you have to synchronize whatever you transfer with Itunes so I cant even transfer documents on it and the list goes on.
Just shows Apple's cheap side!! Guys get over it otherwise competition will just eat you up. I wouldnt be surprised if Apple goes down the same 90's declining phase then.
Besides that, I cant synchronize the Ipod and my Laptop with Bluetooth since I have a Fujitsu.I cant synchronize it with my Nokia N97.Apple is one stingy company!! I will never buy their products again!!
Steve Jobs , you have done quite a Job at getting us become paupers!!!

I think Steve Jobs is going to shoot himself in the foot again. Once again he is in the lead with a phenomenal product that everyone wants but as he has done in the past when he had almost the entire personal computer market in his hand he got greedy and decided that he wanted everything to be proprietary to Apple. Once again Apple may be first but in the end they will lose because someone like IBM will come along with a product that will establish itself as an industry standard based on an open architecture and Apple will again be sucking wind.

Apple fans love being denied things. How long did it take Apple to add a Card Reader to its computers? Apple is so controlling its like a cult and you can tell by its Fans defending it that it must be. Flash is a ever growing Web interface on may sites and it is one reason I don't use my iPod Touch much for web surfing. Apple handicaps itself own products because it is so interested in preserving its closed Ecosystem.

Flash was designed for a time when processing power was more available than bandwidth. Today, the situation has changed. For portable devices, bandwidth is more plentiful than processing power. Apple is backing HTML 5 instead of Flash for good reason.

Never been a fan of Flash over the years simply because [like Microsoft] it is a properiety format, and we need openess, why I am an advocate for Open Source software.

On the internet, we have web standards, and Flash does not play nice in regards to the aims of this working group either, in effect we do not really need Flash now what with HTML5 I would suggest.

Beside, with the advancement of numerous Javascript [AJAX] based frameworks, ie JQuery for example, animation is now possible without properiety software.

By the way, I am a PHP developer myself, with a number of years experience developing for the internet, so I do know what I am talking about.

About time we removed the bloat from the internet, and Apple have my full blessing on their decision to block Flash.

Apple is taking the right action. I've visited sites with flash, and it is damn slow. Putting on a mobile device, would definitely drain the battery and you will then see a flood of Flash apps. I prefer quality applications and Apple has done that very well.

Apple just doesn't want you using AT and T to stream free Hulu Content. Seriously can't people see through that? I bought some TV shows on Itunes and honestly it was the dumbest decision I have ever made. They don't run well on Vista, (not Vista's fault) and not to mention, you can't really do anything with them.

A Jail Broken I-phone can do so much more then a regular one. The warranty is pointless because generally they don't give you anything unless some how your phone blew itself up.

It's quite clear what Apple's motives are. The youtube app is evidence that the hardware is capable of playing the flash video format. I love my iPhone, but it would be a much more powerful device if the user had more control over it

Not sure why Adobe is singling out Apple here. It's not like Windows Mobile has done/can do Flash either. And until people scream for either of them to include or support Flash on their devices, neither will. For the already mentioned reason..flash is a resource hog, along with the rest of adobe's products. They think CPU and RAM grow on trees. Well, it doesn't, especially on mobile platforms.

This will be a mute point: Adobe is coming out with a version of Flash that can output as an .ipa file.

I really feel Adobe is doing the right thing. They may get sued, but it's the truth. I feel that flash is blocked because certain carriers know that if the device is allowed to run flash, the bandwidth usage of the iphone will increase 10x what it is now. The cellular networks can't handle that except in the largest of cities (3G), and even then are un-prepared with adequate backbone speed to their cell sites.

Sad fact is that those of us who own iPhones are plagued with the fact that it isn't a complete Internet device, and that Safari will forever be crippled because of this fact. Android may be the only solution out there, but my guess is that it'll be crippled in some way too because the carriers refuse to upgrade their own service/equipment to support a full range of mobile devices that have the ability to play video on any web site.

Why did they restrict adobe flash player?

I'm perfectly happy not having Flash on my iPhone.

Frankly, I wish there was less Flash, not more of it, on the web. My singular impression of Flash is endless silly ads, slow downs, etc. on websites that I visit with my PC and Mac - why the heck would I wish for it on my iPhone?

Why is Internet Explorer inadequate without Flash? Why is Windows dangerous without Norton Antivirus? It's because MICROSOFT has failed us. I run Flash Blocker to keep all those distracting and annoying ads from running, so don't tell me Flash cannot be done without.

I love my Iphone and cant see getting anything else anytime soon but i dont have flash player and the battery still goes fast and Safari still sucks...so whats the problem? You cant break whats already broken

While it may be doing people a favor since it is a resource hog my belief is that Apple has only restricted it for competition reasons. That is the attitude they have been having with everything else so why would this be any different? I imagine though that most with the iPhone wont care anyway they don't buy an iPhone for performance, they buy it because iPhone is a trend, it is "stylish" and popular. They use mac OS because they blindly believe they are immune to viruses etc. The rest of us who are sheep don't bother with trend technology.

As a Flash Developer I feel it should be noted that other devices will soon be using Adobe Flash player 10.1. This is the full Flash player optimized for mobile devices. There are many phones that currently use flash in their browsers. Apples excuse of "power consumption" is a valid point, but will soon be a mute one. They should not ignore something that plays a significant role on the WWW. It leaves the question open.... is this Apple protecting there revenue stream? The iphone is great Tool , but for how much longer ? There are already some new players in the mobile market and they will be using Flash!

Just another reason why Apple sucks and will never get any real market share. Apple is just pissed that Flash is replacing quicktime as the standard for streaming video. Flash is installed on about 90% of every PC/MAC in the world, Quicktime is not.

It's all about marketing, they don't want anything that could possibly compete with iTunes or Quicktime. Mac does everything to hold on the the monopoly they have and never wants to play nice with anyone. Which is why they will always have that niche market and never have any presence in the business world.

All you Mac fanboi's need to do some reading before posting.

Flash is less of a resource hog than iTunes or Quicktime. Security threats with Flash? Yea, about as much as iTunes.

iTunes completely hijacks and bloats up your computer with so much usless crap it's rediculous. Flash is just a simple ActiveX plugin for a browser.

Mac is restricting is for marketing reasons. They don't want people to bypass their appstore for TV/Movies when you can get the same thing for free in flash through a browser. All other smartphones run flash just fine. All this nonsense about batter life, CPU slowdown, and security is a bunch of bunk.

I don't think not having flash on the iPhone is really that big of an issue at the moment. After all, it is a phone. Sure, it is slowly migrating to a personal computing device and I am sure as technology progresses and the phones become faster Flash will be looked at by Apple. I dont miss it much.

Yo, PC kidz: Thanks for all the speculation and predictions and raves. But "Death of Apple"? Get real. Long-time Mac+PC users have lost count of all the predicted Apple funerals that never happened. Besides Apple's currently growing market-share in smartphones and "personal computers" (bought with consumers' own money, not by companies for airport ticket-terminals etc), consider what else the "market" is saying:
"Adobe to cut 9 percent of workforce"....
//news.cnet.com/8301-1001_3-10394820-92.html

It appears that computer owners no longer want expensive bloatware that kills CPU performance. Flash added to a handheld smartphone would turn it into a slooow, battery-sucking handwarmer - with really bad video. Try a (Flash-enabled) MacBook if you want to enjoy YouTube or Flash games or see other Flash video at gorgeous resolution. Developers and websites, use cross-platform MPEG video if you want lots of happy return visitors on PCs, Macs, iPhones, Droids, whatever!

As for Apple, Microsoft, Adobe, and so on all trying to protect proprietary hardware/software revenue, can you spell "duh"? It's that or roadkill.

We all need to remember that Apple's success is largely due to it's control of the user's experience. As PC's have shown, anyone can throw together the cheapest components, load them with bloat-ware, take our money and blissfully watch us struggle. We have an insatiable appetite for cheap and the audacity to complain about it. Apple encourages and supports third parties to create accessories and software for it's product lines. Where third parties fall short, Apple creates it's own software. If Adobe or others do not resolve the mobile Flash Player issue, Apple may well have to step in. Adobe for one has proven it's ability to create wonderful apps so, why is a little thing like mobile Flash Player kicking it's butt?

Flash stinks. Period. It's a resource-hogging eyesore on any platform. Way to go, Apple!

I bet my millions bucks here...If it was a microsoft product or technology blocking such thing...it would really be ....

Justice Department Please!!!

I have no regrets leaving my iphone 3g for the Motorolla Droid. If it slows my phone down, i can decide not to use it. I don't need a money hungry company playing god with my electronics.

Adobe is the single greatest example of BLOAT WARE. Their coding is so bloated its a travesty. They must pay their coders by the hour, its so sad to see programs that do the same with 1/100 th. the overall program and memory use.

What I find ironic about this whole issue is that I am barraged with Apple ads on many sights I visit. These ads are adobe flash ads. Obviously Apple isn't that concerned about the end-users experience if it uses this 'bloatware'.

I would like to browse the web from my iphone as I do from my home computer. Until Apple enables Flash functionality this will not happen. If Apple continues to refuse to do this on the iphone, I will simply switch phones and phone companies if necessary. I have no loyalty to Apple or anyone else. The device that functions best – wins, as far as my purchasing power goes.

go away, anti-"anything-but-text" Luddites.... let consumers make their own decisions. wait... sorry.. forgot we were talking about apple here. nevermind. anyone wanna by a used newton, in good condition? only $14000....

flash....ahhhhhhhhh....king of the universe

Let me get this straight. The World Wide Web, created to be a device and OS neutral method of information and entertainment delivery is not "complete" without a proprietary plugin that really only runs worth a damn on Windows? Flash is a pig on every platform but really only runs decently on Windows. To be fair, Quicktime and iTunes run much better on the Mac than other platforms due to the way the code is ported. What's wrong with using open standards like MP4 and H264 as YouTube does for the iPhone?

I even add 'ClicktoFlash' to my computers to block Flash and I have not missed it at all. No over heating, no fans, no browser lock ups and best of all no marketing crap. One interesting thing is I get to see invisible Flash oblongs placed over other 'click here' type links in sneaky intercepts. This abuses like this just add to the other Flash problems. I strongly recommend the ClicktoFlash free add on to all who would like to try a Flash Free browser.

Reading these comments, why do I get the feeling Apple users are sheep?

Flash being a resource hog and Apple protecting customers against themselves is laughable. Users, if it's draining your battery too fast, just turn the Flash off. It's that easy. Other smart phones support Flash. Enough said.

Bottomline is, Apple doesn't want to give you *choice* and are afraid that Flash applets and video will directly complete with their own.

And you bought the excuse of Apple being your nanny and knowing what's absolute best for you hook line and sinker. Tsk tsk...

Flash is used by so many things now. It does not appear to be a one night wonder. If it is just a security concern on their part, then have a popup message to the user saying so and asking the user if they want to enable flash. Wouldn't that be a reasonable solution?

Ha, I sold both my iphones 3G 8GB on ebay two days ago for $640. My wife and I have droids and flash will be coming soon. Bye Bye Iphone!

Sold my iphone – never buying another mac product again. Crap like this is exactly why.

It would appear that Jobs is the most intelligent idiot going. It would appear he has forgotten why Microsoft had to buy a huge share of Apple to bail them out and apple now has the addition of an Intel processor to complement it's point and click superiority in the computer market. To bad Jobs didn't add common sense to Apples coporate structure as he is poised to blow yet another market first lead. Good going moron ruins your chance for a second purchase of any Apple product by moi. Too bad but I think maybe I'll go with someone else for a smart phone.