Posted 06.26.2009 at 9:33 am
20 Comments
iPhone, Flashified?
Will it happen? Does it even make sense?
Earlier in the week, Adobe CEO Shantanu Narayen announced that a mobile implementation of the full Flash Player 10 would be making its way onto several smartphones by October. In addition to Android, other mobile operating systems, including Windows Mobile, Palm's WebOS, and Symbian have signed on. Missing from that list, to absolutely no one's surprise, is the iPhone.
Everyone from users, developers, and website owners to cartoonists and pornographers have been clamoring for Flash on the iPhone since the gadget's launch two years ago. In that time, both Apple and Adobe have (both individually and jointly) announced that a Flash player for the iPhone is in the works -- but neither would elaborate further as to when or if said player would ever be released for public consumption.
I'm not a huge proponent of Flash, but I believe it has its place. I think it's both overused and misused on today's desktop Web, but I also think that when used correctly it's capable of delivering some incredible interactive experiences, unmatched (so far) by Web standards.
Take a look at the video above of Flash running on the T-Mobile G1, and it's pretty hard not to lust after Flash on the iPhone. The thing is, I don't see it happening anytime soon, if ever. Here's my reasoning.
Flash on OS X is a processor hog
Flash has always been a dog on the Mac. I can't watch a YouTube clip without the fans on my Macbook Pro kicking in -- and kicking in loudly. Ars Technica recently ran some benchmarks comparing Flash Player 10's performance on OS X versus Vista, and the results are astounding. Watching a Hulu video on a Mac Pro utilized 56 percent of the CPU's processing power. The same video on the same Mac running Vista in Boot Camp used only 7 percent. Now, imagine the beatdown this severely lackluster performance would lay on the iPhone's ARM processor. Visiting a website with Flash ad banners (like PopSci.com) would melt your phone.
Apple would never allow this. Flash has been on OS X for as long as OS X has existed, and Adobe (Macromedia before it) still hasn't gotten it right. We won't see Flash on the iPhone until it performs flawlessly, and if history is any indication that's going to be a long time coming.
AT&T's network can't handle it
The biggest disappointment of the iPhone has never been the hardware or software, but the network it's on. AT&T can't even handle MMS on the iPhone, much less the millions of video-streaming sites that would instantly become available via a Flash plug-in for mobile Safari. Earlier this year, fears of its own inadequacy led AT&T to cripple the SlingPlayer iPhone app, so that users could only stream video via Wi-Fi, and not over its rickety 3G network. What's extra puzzling/insulting is the fact that the Motorola Q, Blackberry, and other smartphones are allowed this functionality. If AT&T is skittish about Sling users, it must be wetting its pants at the prospect of millions of users beaming Hulu or Netflix to their iPhones.
Apple would no longer have a dictatorship
Part of me -- well, most of me -- thinks Apple is purposely keeping Flash off of the iPhone. Flash isn't just a simple plug-in for playing animations -- it's a full-fledged application environment. If Flash were allowed on the iPhone, you could circumvent the App Store to sell your videos and games. The App Store would be made redundant. Why on Earth would Apple ever cede its chokehold on iPhone commerce to Adobe?
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Tags
Gadgets, The Grouse, Tom Conlon, adobe, apple, apps, cellphones, flash, gadget news, iphone, mobileFlash's days may be numbered, anyway
A massive and exciting upgrade to the underlying technology powering the Web is currently underway, and it's called HTML 5. Thanks to Microsoft leaving most of HTML 5's specifications out of Internet Explorer (the most popular desktop browser by a longshot), widespread proliferation of HTML 5 is years off -- perhaps even a decade away. But it's a different story on the iPhone (home to the most popular mobile browser by a longshot), where the latest version of Safari already supports HTML 5. Why does this spell doom for Flash? Because HTML 5 includes things like Canvas for animating graphics, audio and video tags that make plug-ins obsolete, and local data storage for applications that can work offline. In other words, it's taken a lot of the Rich Internet Application goodies you can only get from Flash (or Microsoft's Flash clone, Silverlight) and built them right into the browser. HTML 5 could potentially kill Flash off someday, so you have to wonder if Apple sees Flash on the iPhone as a technological step backward.
An interesting side note about Flash on the iPhone: An iPhone developer named Jonah Grant has actually created an app that he claims installs Flash on mobile Safari. He even submitted it to the App Store! Of course, Grant's app was rejected by Apple. So far he hasn't released it to the illegal Cydia app store for jailbroken phones. Here's hoping he does!
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"A massive and exciting upgrade to the underlying technology powering the Web is currently underway, and it's called HTML 5. Thanks to Microsoft leaving most of HTML 5's specifications out of Internet Explorer (the most popular desktop browser by a longshot), widespread proliferation of HTML 5 is years off -- perhaps even a decade away."
Another way to think of this is ... Hey, I can do this on my iPhone, why can't I do it in IE. Uh, my iPhone uses Safari. I think I'll download Safari to my laptop/desktop computer and try it.
And if they don't like Safari (which I use) on their desktop they can also use the quickly increasingly popular FireFox which will also have all the HTML 5 goodies. This way more and more people will stop using IE. That can only be good.
from coral gables, fl
I agree with the part before the video, Flash is such a misused technology its really a shame. I mean it has the ability to make websites really interesting, but at the price of seriously long loading times, and usually a much different interface than people are used to.
And hey is Apple getting hit with antitrust suits abroad because they bundle safari with the iPhone?
Anyway, by the time HTML5 is actually being used by serious websites, I'm sure it'll be compatible with IE, even though I've been using either FireFox(for features) or Chrome(for speed) for years now... its really hard to believe how many people are still running IE 7.
"its really hard to believe how many people are still running IE 7."
- not really. There are still plenty of sites/online apps that ONLY work on IE. Really annoying for those of us using Firefox.
I used to work in a development environment, and all the programmers used Firefox. So everything worked great until we had to test on IE... oops, doesn't work anymore. Add 2 more weeks of debugging time. Grrrr. So you start to think, why don't we just make it work on IE in the first place, since that's what most people use?
from coral gables, fl
I meant as opposed to IE 8... when firefox updates, a large percentage of users update that day. IE 8 has been out for months and something like under 20% of IE users have switched. Google chrome doesn't even tell you that its updating, if you use it, you have the latest version.
You can't even compete with Google chrome in my opinion. It is the way browsing should be, quick, simple and effective.
Who wants to manually update browsers if you don't need to? If you stick to Google you can go wrong really!
Ben
CEO
http://idigibuzz.com
"when firefox updates, a large percentage of users update that day. IE 8 has been out for months and something like under 20% of IE users have switched"
I actually think Firefox and IE are fairly similar in that regard - Windows users usually update IE automatically with Windows update, but neither browser forces an upgrade when theres a major version change. Firefox 3.5 is now out and I had to go manually download that, and I had to do the same when upgrading from 2 to 3. Firefox users are just far more savvy than IE users in general, hence the higher upgrade numbers.
Mark Foster | www.onewhitewedding.com
I also think that Flash is highly overrated. It's nice for certain types of sites, but not everywhere.
John,
http://www.yourloan.ca
Interesting revelation, but could someone explain why Flash takes so much more processing from the Mac and so little on Windows? Could it be, that Adobe did not optimize the software or write it correctly for the Mac OS? In any case, what is the reason for Flash to be non-cooperative?
Interesting revelation, but could someone explain why Flash takes so much more processing from the Mac and so little on Windows? Could it be, that Adobe did not optimize the software or write it correctly for the Mac OS? In any case, what is the reason for Flash to be non-cooperative?
I don’t know the issues with the Macintosh, but I can tell you that it’s not just a Flash issue. Mac OS have been reported to have major ‘real-time streaming’ and progressive downloading relating to ‘processing’ issues that are delivered from all kinds of platforms including Java. These are reported all over the web. I can also tell you that Flash and Silver-light (like) applications are the future of the web. JavaScript has more issues than Flash in terms of cross-browser compatibility, security(hijacking the DOM), and manipulation of the browser itself. Flash can load FASTER than typical web pages with use of vector graphics. Vector graphics are perfect for scaling dynamically to fit perfectly in a hand held device window. And every thing can move! (without a huge library of script and hours of coding) In general flash can be far more interactive for the end user. Spiders and Bots can not ‘crawl’ pages/DOM and auto-fill-in forms for hacking. There are thousands of reasons ‘flash like’ apps will prevail from single page loads to working complex multiple timelines and ‘progressive’ download and execution. Flash is the most widespread platform of this kind and the best uses of it have not even been taken advantage of yet.
No flash for the I-phone = no future for the I-phone. Mark my words, It’s that simple.
Ignorance is bliss(contentment).
PS: HTML 5 is a joke. making pages more and more like a web service is not the answer. They do it so that JavaScript can grab page elements easier. Well that also means these can be parsed or phased in any language and it won't be long before the web is crawling with bots looking for form fields to auto-fill and bypass image-captcha (catchall-copatch). That's already happening to all the open source projects that push for Strict XHTML. they keep making it more and more like a 'service' (XML) and wonder why they are constantly being attacked by bots?
and to have your browser 'google' your pretty much selling your sole to them, as they are now not only tracking you with cookies but also your browser now.
make HTML more like a web service also means the page can be hi-jacked real easy with one of those famous web browser tool bars.
I've been a Flash developer since Flash 6 was introduced and I have to say this is one of the better articles I've read about Flash. I agree that it's often misused and introduces unfamiliar interfaces but I believe that in the right hands it is overall good.
Today Apple announced that the iPhone will support (a very limited version of) the next Flash player. We won't be able to access the Internet with Flash and I wonder if we can write shared objects (cookies). I would be interested in your thoughts and comments about this. I hope you decide to write an update to this article.
This should be good!! it's very convenient for everyone!
Cydia, "Illegal"? what are you talking about? (sure its not aproved by Apple, but Apple is not the law.
To exfactor : HTML5 is really not a joke, it will become one standard that will completly change the web and the way we navigate.
http://www.scrabblecheat.org
Funny how this has moved on with Jobs really sticking it to Adobe. Steve will have to use a cute pick up lines if he wants to make it up with them Just got a cool piano tutorial app by the way which is so cool.
Another way to think of this is ... Hey, I can do this on my iPhone, why can't I do it in IE. Uh, my iPhone uses Safari. I think I'll download Safari to my laptop/desktop computer and try it.
Flash is out for the iPhone... check it out:
www.lab.neo-pangea.com/blog/2011/01/i-have-flash-on-my-iphone-4/
When Apple announced the new Siri software for the iphone 4s it was easy to just dismiss it as another company trying to get on board with the voice recognition gimmick we've seen companies trying to make work for years. But there are a couple of things to remember here: firstly, this is Apple, a brand that will always make something seem cool and work pretty well. And secondly, it's not a technology that it's had to develop fully in house, with the company buying voice recognition development app-maker Siri. We've played with some pretty advanced voice recognition software on the likes of the Samsung Galaxy S2, so we've also taken a look to see how the same command is registered on both phones. Long pressing the home button will result in the Siri voic icon popping up - or alternatively, you can set the iPhone 4S to activate the service when you hold the phone up to your ear in standby mode, so you don't look as ridiculous when talking to your handset. From there, you've got quite a range of things you can achieve with speech alone, be it sending a message, playing a song (or even a playlist), setting the alarm, creating a reminder... we were very impressed with the range of options on offer. And the system is quick too - where with many other phones you have to open up the voice recognition function (often in a long winded way) and then wait for the beep to speak, Siri opens up in around a couple of seconds from anywhere in the phone. The voice recognition is pretty darn good too - we were straight away impressed with how many phrases it managed to get right on the first go, including some pretty obscure bits and pieces of speech. You do have to pronounce your words a little more clinically than you might do normally, but even garbled speech comes through pretty well. To put a number on it: we went through the list of functions Siri offers, and found that around one in three or four attempts went awry, which is miles better than the one in two we encounter on most other phones. However, before we get into the comparison, we should say this about Siri in the UK - the full range of services aren't available, and that's a real shame. This means you can't ask where the nearest McDonald's or petrol station is, a feature that's been talked up in the US. We do have high hopes that the same features will eventually be enabled in the UK, as it's just a matter of licensing the information and incorporating it into the system, but it will be annoying for a number of users to see that Siri comes back with 'I cannot do that' time and time again for cool functionality. But what it does do well is work out the context of what you're saying, something that most other voice recognition software fails to do. So if you say 'Tell Andy his hair looks amazing today' it will work out that you'll want to tell him by message, rather than asking what method you'd prefer to speak to him. Messaging isn't as straightforward as we'd like though, as using the 'Send message' command to a person in your address book will result in you being asked whether you'd like to do it using the phone number or email address - and there's no way to set a personalized choice.