Adobe exec confirms Flash for iPhone, says Apple will decide when

Our friend Jens Chr Brynildsen, a Flash expert who maintains a number of resources for the standard including Flash Magazine, has reportedly confirmed with Adobe Systems' senior director of engineering, Paul Betlem, that Flash is coming to the iPhone. However, Betlem says that "Apple calls the shots as to when it'll be available."

Brynildsen got the confirmation at an Adobe Town Hall meeting session. He reports:

"Upon a direct question from the audience, Paul Betlem for the first time publicly confirmed that Adobe is actively developing a Flash Player for Apple's popular phone. He said (not direct quote) 'My team is working on Flash on the iPhone, but it's a closed platform.' He noted that Apple makes all the decisions, so in other words, the ball is in Apple's yard at this time. If Apple says yes, Adobe will have the player available in a very short time."

In mid-June, Adobe's CEO said that company already has Flash running on an iPhone emulator (presumably the same emulator included with Apple's iPhone SDK).

As we've pointed out several times, Flash performance and usage is abysmal on current mobile devices that support playback. Mobile device processors--including the iPhone's--simply aren't fast enough to handle most Flash-laden sites. Flash Lite, the scaled-down standard designed specifically for mobile devices, is even too much for most devices, and isn't widely used.

Note: This post originally appeared on iPhone Atlas.

[ballmerisanape]

No thanks.. I have actually enjoyed flash-free browsing.. and have gotten quite used to it.

[Perry_Clease]

I consider not having Flash on my iPhone to be a safety feature :)

[ddonuts4]

knowing apple they will probably have a way to turn off the flash feature on the iPhone

[mmntech]

I've been considering getting an iPod touch. Flash support would be welcome for mobile browsing since it would enable better support for Youtube and other Flash video in the browser. Hopefully this isn't something that Apple will charge for, like they've been doing with firmware updates. Doing that is almost as bad as a cash bar at a wedding.

[Perry_Clease]

I have been watching more YouTube video on my iPhone than I do on my Mac. Something to do when you are out and about and waiting for someone. However, these are QuickTime not Flash video.

[rvassar]

The iPhone has an App that comes with the phone to watch YouTube movies.

[FunkyMan3333]

That's crud. So many websites use Flash. There is absolutely NO reason for it not to be on the iPhone. I'd like to watch other video than YouTube, believe it or not. Apple better follow through with this!

[rvassar]

Didn't you read the article? There are a number of reasons.

[Galaxy5]

Cool...now the battery in my iPhone will DIE HARDER.

Just joking...sort of.

[Galaxy5]

"Mobile device processors--including the iPhone's--simply aren't fast enough to handle most Flash-laden sites. "

I don't believe you. If the iPhone's processor is so poor, how can it play X-Plane (a flight simulator) as fast as a G5?

It's more like Flash is probably optimized for size, not speed. Processors in today's phones are plenty fast to run simple animations and handle procedural languages.

[ddonuts4]

first of all I think that since it will be lower resolution it will be faster and also if it can play YouTube videos and 3d games well, it can probably do flash just as well

[kaibelf]

I agree with Funky,

Not every site is full of annoying flash. Being able to watch some video or go to certain places WOULD be nice, on the condition that they could pull it off.

[Perry_Clease]

"Not every site is full of annoying flash. Being able to watch some video or go to certain places WOULD be nice, on the condition that they could pull it off"

They have pulled it off, http://www.apple.com/iphone/features/youtube.html

[ashwinkn]

That is because it is a built-in application and almost every YouTube video has been converted to h.264 for the iPhone.

[trd1282]

THIS, is one happy fanboy.... and I am not being facetious.

[Goodbye Helicopter]

It will happen, with constraints. They don't want dead batteries and obnoxious flash ads like are found on this site.

[DarkHawke]

Well, at least I now know why Flash has yet to come to the iPhone/iPod Touch. Now as to why this is the first time I've ever read of this understandable reason on this site, I haven't one clue. Apple couldn't have said anything about it? CNET couldn't have brought it up at least once with all the grousing about Flash being absent? The frack is up with THAT noise?

So will someone now tell me why landscape keyboards aren't available in all operation modes, and cut-and-paste remains completely absent? Maybe I should hit this iPhone Atlas site. They seem to have the clue that still eludes a couple of major companies that immediately spring to mind!

[Nicholas Buenk]

iPhone's processor is similar in speed to a 2000 or 2001 mac. That should handle most flash.
90% of the flash out there is really a waste of bandwidth though. Adverts or pointless animations, and they will just wear out the iphone battery faster.
However, there are some very useful uses for flash. Google Streetview, web videos.

[Kontracnet]

Even if Flash could be optimized to run faster on OS X with less of an impact on the CPU and battery life, there would still remain a huge issue of clashing UIs and interaction frameworks on the iPhone between Adobe and Apple. The iPhone is establishing the first multi-touch driven mass-market platform, Flash doesn't even have a multi-touch framework. I explore the implications of this for both Adobe and Apple in:

The new UI wars: Why there's no Flash on iPhone 2.0
http://counternotions.com/2008/06/17/flash-iphone/

[Rawnchie14]

LOL people twisting and churning their reasoning to make Apple's shunning of Flash justified.

How about a better battery? How about a replaceable battery? No then Apple couldn't put a 2 year lifetime battery in that will ensure you HAVE to get the next model eventually.

BTW Apple again gave Flash the shaft, even if it is ready for the iPhone. Lord Jobs says "no" to letting users do what they want with THEIR phones again. Makes me glad I can install Android when it's released...

...and don't give me "Oh, I don't need/like flash anyways" because shouldn't that be your choice to make anyways? Otherwise we're basically robots.

[jxp1229]

Flash would be nice. they will probably limit flash to wifi connection only, similar to itunes. I also hope they allow for sling media mobile.

[ddonuts4]

woot i am going to be even more happy when i finally get an iPhone-i've been longingly trying those things in Best Buy forever

[elmaestro_dotmac]

Having bought a 2G the second week it was released and a 3G a couple of months ago, I can safely say that throughout this time I have not missed Flash, even before they implemented YouTube capability. However, the one site that I frequent that does make me miss it now is Hulu. Based on my experiences with Hulu and Firefox on a laptop, I suspect that 3G speeds and below will not satisfactorily support a stable stream from the site. If that is the case then such websites might only be feasible with a robust Wi-Fi connection which would be very limiting and practically useless in real world situations where you're out and about and want to watch something but can only get 3G (or EDGE), which for me is 99% of the time. I patiently await its implementation but will not lose a wink of sleep over it. Until then I just view on my laptop which isn't such a huge convenience.

[elmaestro_dotmac]

*inconvenience* hehe

[evanSF]

The one thing missing from the comments here is that flash is not only something you view through a browser it is also a platform to create applications and games. When they release the flash player to the iPhone you will see a dramatic increase in the amount of apps/games in the iStore. Something I know I will be looking forward to ;)