[opendtv] Apple dashes hopes of Flash on iPhone
- From: "Manfredi, Albert E" <albert.e.manfredi@xxxxxxxxxx>
- To: "opendtv@xxxxxxxxxxxxx" <opendtv@xxxxxxxxxxxxx>
- Date: Mon, 12 Apr 2010 09:20:36 -0500
http://www.rethink-wireless.com/article.asp?article_id=2876
Apple dashes hopes of Flash on iPhone
Bars third party compilers on iPhone and iPad apps, hits Adobe workaround
By CAROLINE GABRIEL
Published: 12 April, 2010
Apple has derailed Adobe's plans to get Flash onto the iPad and iPhone by the
back door, in the latest instalment of the two firms' hostile saga. The lack of
Flash - required for most common web video applications - is seen as a major
weakness in the video oriented iPad, but Apple remains adamant that the
technology is too lightweight and too power hungry for its products. Now it has
dealt a blow to hopes of an Adobe workaround, by updating its iPhone Developer
Program License Agreement, specifically banning the use of third party
compilers to create iPhone apps.
This will hit various development projects, none more so than Adobe's upcoming
Packager for iPhone, part of its Creative Suite 5. This would allow developers
to create Flash apps which could then be recompiled to run on the iPhone or
iPad, and was important to Adobe, to keep its programmers faithful by allowing
them a way to reach the Apple user base.
But Apple gets more aggressive in its terms and conditions, even at a time when
the iPhone platform has serious rivals for the first time. Its revised Ts and
Cs, as uncovered by blogger John Gruber, are hostile to apps not written in its
chosen languages, Objective-C, C, C++ or Javascript.
The rules now state that "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
(applications that link to Documented APIs through an intermediary translation
or compatibility layer or tool are prohibited).
Adobe said in a statement: "We are aware of the new SDK language and are
looking into it. We continue to develop our Packager for iPhone OS technology,
which we plan to debut in Flash CS5."
Adobe Flash evangelist Lee Brimelow was less circumspect in his blog, when he
said Apple's move to bar third party APIs was a pawn in a "crusade against
Adobe". He issued a call to arms, pledging not to purchase any Apple product
until a new CEO was in charge, one without Steve Jobs' deep hostility to Flash.
He added: "Adobe and Apple have had a long relationship and each has helped the
other get where they are today. The fact that Apple would make such a hostile
and despicable move like this clearly shows the difference between our two
companies. All we want is to provide creative professionals an avenue to deploy
their work to as many devices as possible. We are not looking to kill anything
or anyone."
Jobs has also been very public in his criticism of Flash and during the
unveiling of iPhone 4.0 last week, he made several jibes at the performance and
power consumption of the plug-in technology compared to HTML5, which Apple is
using for its new advertising platform iAd.
Gruber points out that the new rules also ban apps compiled using MonoTouch,
which gets Microsoft C# and .Net apps onto the iPhone. He wrote: "It's unclear
what this means for tools like Titanium and PhoneGap, which let developers
write JavaScript code that runs in WebKit inside a native iPhone app wrapper.
They might be OK."
Apple has also famously fallen out with Google, and this led to fevered
speculation that its former friend's search engine would be supplanted as the
default for iPhone OS 4.0 and the WebKit-based Safari browser. However, based
on the developer preview release of the updated OS, Google remains in place,
and there is no sign of a rumored deal with Microsoft to put its new Bing in
the position. If such a deal is still being negotiated, however, Bing could
turn up as the main search engine in the beta or final release (as could Yahoo).
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