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Adobe begins work on Flash player for iPhone

appleinsider.com — Adobe has started development of a Flash player suitable for use on Apple Inc.'s iPhone, company chief executive Shantanu Narayen said Tuesday. Narayen made the revelation during a conference call with investors, explaining that Apple's recent release of an iPhone software developers kit (SDK) has afforded his company the necessary tools to finally

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  • anchorman, on 03/19/2008, -60/+17Two things that will bring the iPhone closer to perfection are Flash and better support for AJAX type functionality. However, even with these added... I still cannot say it is perfect because it does not have GPS and 3G. If Apple could bring all these things about in the next gen iPhone... AND give me the freedom to choose other carriers outside of AT&T... it will be hovering very close to the mark of perfection.
    • DiggLive, on 03/19/2008, -36/+4Sounds good, but I'd add the option for a flip phone too.
      • chrisxkelley, on 03/19/2008, -3/+24Definitely possible in a software update.
      • jrizzo, on 03/19/2008, -1/+3Hack it.
      • KnightWhoSaysNi, on 03/19/2008, -1/+15What's so good about a flip phone?
        • TheSnuffster, on 03/19/2008, -1/+1Prevents screen scratching I guess. Not that I want to see it in a revised iPhone mind you.
          • loganhuddleston, on 03/19/2008, -0/+5The scratches on my iphone arent on the screen they are everywhere else.
          • breadfred, on 03/19/2008, -0/+3Wow you just said something very insightful. The screen side does not scratch. How about a flip phone, both external sides a screen, you flip it open to a giant screen?
        • senatorpjt, on 03/19/2008, -0/+2Everyone I know who has had a flip phone has eventually had it fail - at the joint.
    • timusca, on 03/19/2008, -13/+46Do you want it to wipe your ass too? I swear to God, you people are way too demanding... I understand the desire for 3G and GPS, but demanding it to be available outside of AT&T isn't going to happen - they have a 5-year contract with them. And if they fulfill those demands, what will it be then? Dual screens? RedTube built-in?
      • anchorman, on 03/19/2008, -17/+9Way too demanding? Because I want it to have flash and good js support? AT&T blows chunks as a carrier and their business ethics suck. So yes... to reach perfection it needs these problem areas addressed.
        • chrisxkelley, on 03/19/2008, -1/+5"Way too demanding? Because I want it to have flash and good js support?"

          No. Just the AT&T part.
        • revjustin2, on 03/19/2008, -1/+10I had to digg you down because you used the phrase "to reach perfection".
          • loganhuddleston, on 03/19/2008, -0/+4Agreed, its a ***** cell phone.
        • kevincannon, on 03/19/2008, -6/+2How many mobile phone have Flash support at present? Is there any that support Flash content on the web?

          I think there may be one or two that support Flash Player 5 but that's about it.

          Expecting a mobile phone to replicate a Desktop experience is a little naive. As it stands, the iPhone does a pretty good job of it. It's not for everyone, but for many people it's a great choice. For others, there's plenty of smartphones to choose from.
          • MoofTheStoof, on 03/19/2008, -3/+2When I got my iPhone I wasn't looking for a smartphone, I was looking for a palm-top mac. Which is essentially what it is. I use it constantly even though I only make one or two phone calls a day. Lack of Flash is one of the few gripes I have with it.
          • zongamin, on 03/20/2008, -0/+1You should have bought an ipod touch then.
        • PsychoDesigns, on 03/19/2008, -2/+3My 4 yr old Nokia 6600 has Flash lite, Adobe made it available for most of the recent Nokia phones and a bunch more.
          anyway, thats just an FYI, I'm staying out of this..
        • tehdan, on 03/19/2008, -1/+3What exactly is missing in JS that you want? From my understanding, mobile safari has full Ajax support, and most if not all the same Javascript functionality as desktop safari.
          • dshPls, on 03/19/2008, -0/+1The less crappy AJAX being displayed on the web the better imo.
        • nirav72, on 03/19/2008, -0/+4@kevincannon - lots of Nokia phones support Flash Lite , which is equal to Flash 7 in functionality. Also a lot of the windows mobile phones actually have a flash player. Once again equal to flash 7.
        • lengau, on 03/19/2008, -1/+1@kevincannon - Nokia's internet tablets (which are the closest things on the market to the iPhone/iPod Touch) support Flash. In Os2008, IIRC, they even support Flash 9
          • robbh66, on 03/19/2008, -0/+2I have one of these tablets. It doesn't support flash- or at least didn't last summer and we were told not to expect it.
          • lengau, on 03/19/2008, -1/+1@robbh66 - Which one do you have? The N800 and the N810 have it, and I thought the 770 did, too (though I can't cite any reference for that).
      • cornwarrior, on 03/19/2008, -2/+17Amen to that! If you keep waiting around for a "perfect" phone, you're never going to have a phone, because it doesn't exist, and it never will.
        • hiro, on 03/19/2008, -3/+3True, but Apple could get a quarter of the way to perfection by just offering what cheaper phones have had for yrs!
          • wellyuk, on 03/19/2008, -0/+2And offering what cheaper phone haven't had for yrs!
      • rpgmaker, on 03/19/2008, -2/+2I didn't knew RedTube...
      • DjArcadian, on 03/19/2008, -0/+15 years?! But I want it now!
    • rezaf3000, on 03/19/2008, -0/+3Well, although I'm going to get buried too, but I can't agree more with you. 3G is required, as well as availability outside AT&T.

      BTW, check this out for sort-of-GPS functionality: http://digg.com/apple/iPhone_GPS_Hack_Tested_and_i ...
    • yabos, on 03/19/2008, -2/+4The iPhone already does AJAX. Didn't you hear about all the iPhone web apps since the thing came out? Been living under a rock? With Safari 3.1 included in the 2.0 software it'll support even better things that aren't even part of the HTML spec yet but are submitted to be part of the standard.
    • kingfoot, on 03/20/2008, -0/+1"if practice makes perfect, and nobody's perfect, why practice?"
  • walkerdarin2003, on 03/19/2008, -72/+13I just wanted to comment that that Mc Skillet Burrito ad from McDonald's on the side of the page is the *****. Oh and ***** yeah to Flash on the iPhone. I don't know what one I want more. Try the iced coffee too lol.
    • loganhuddleston, on 03/19/2008, -0/+6who the ***** are you, Ronald McDonald?
    • tim710, on 03/19/2008, -0/+3this is a simulation of ads you will experience once you have flash on your iphone?
  • screwy3333, on 03/19/2008, -88/+3Before they work on Flash player they need to update their BIOS to allow homebrew Linux apps or at least a decent photo editor...Gimp anyone?
    • walkerdarin2003, on 03/19/2008, -8/+5I could see something like this being launched, but why Linux? Wouldn't it be Unix based? That is the behind the scenes element of OS X.
    • FizzanoMatrix, on 03/19/2008, -8/+2Most embedded elements were originally designed to be Ubuntu mods for the Iphone, but as far as a Gimp based editor, that's really up to the beta testing teams. I could seem them possibly updating to a Garage Band type photo editor that would be able to run on the internal sys..
      • chrisxkelley, on 03/19/2008, -1/+11Garage Band photo editor? What?
    • vibrokatana, on 03/19/2008, -3/+12You do know that the BIOS is completely seperate from the Operating System right? The iPhone is likely based off of OSX which is based on FreeBSD. Also Adobe is seperate from Apple, so their development teams are independant. Good god, why am I correcting a troll?
      • walkerdarin2003, on 03/19/2008, -3/+2My Dad said to format my HD to remove the CMOS battery :p yeah pretty dumb
      • lengau, on 03/19/2008, -1/+2The iPhone firmware is Darwin, not OS X (semantic and pedantic, yes, but I'm sick of the marketing types ruining technical terms).
    • dmadip, on 03/19/2008, -6/+1i never knew their were linux fanboys. HAHA
    • revjustin2, on 03/19/2008, -1/+17What?! Hombrew Linux app support and a PHOTO EDITOR over FLASH?! Are you so out of touch with reality that you think this should be a priority for the iPhone dev team? Since most iPhone users are normal human beings who could give a ***** less about homebrew apps and open source photo editing (ON THEIR PHONES? - that's what a full size 'puter is for) and care more about being able to view the millions of websites with Flash content, I can't even begin to understand your logic here.
      • wellyuk, on 03/19/2008, -2/+1There's a couple of good websites with Flash based image editors, such as www.splashup.com and fotoflexer.com. I've used both of these a few times and they're handy sites to have access to, even on a iphone. But you're correct, the average iphone user is neither going to use these sites or download homebrew applications. They'll use what's available on the phone right now or what is available when the SDK comes out of beta.

        People on digg simply forget that their requirements are not the norm and assume that EVERYONE wants to compile software/install X distros of linux/build their own machine from resisters and capacitors/crack iphones to run homebrew software.
    • nirav72, on 03/19/2008, -0/+12Why the hell would you want a photo editor on a phone? Especially something like Gimp? Its a Phone!!! maybe a music and video player with internet capability. But its still a phone! If you want a photoeditor, go by yourself a tablet pc running linux or use a notebook.
      • senatorpjt, on 03/19/2008, -0/+1I can see the use of a iPhoto-level editor, say to adjust brightness levels/crop photos/remove red eye, etc. Maybe not red-eye since it doesn't have a flash, but even my digital camera has those adjustments on the camera.
    • brdude, on 03/19/2008, -1/+12I hate when I click on the wrong button when digging something. I really wish would implement a way of undigging a comment.
    • aimhelix, on 03/19/2008, -0/+3A photo editor? You like to finger-paint?
      • yugiohdan6, on 03/20/2008, -0/+2hey, a finger paint app for the iPhone would be pretty fun considering the multi-touch and all
  • clak, on 03/19/2008, -43/+82Everyone should take note that this is Adobe's announcement, not Apple's.

    When Flash doesn't happen on the iPhone and take my word for it, Apple will NOT let it happen, somehow the media and Anti-Apple people will parlay this into some kind of controversy where they say Apple "promised" Flash and then pulled the rug out. It will become the biggest myth since the 1.1.1 update, the one where Apple was blamed for bricking iPhone even though Apple warned people ahead of time by press releases and signs in their stores and even a warning built into the installer.

    The myth will in turn become a series of articles about how Apple has lost their way and are on the road to destruction and how Steve Jobs eats kittens for breakfast. Don't say I didn't warn you.
    • revjustin2, on 03/19/2008, -2/+12I understand where you are coming from, but I guess I am too much of a noob to understand why Apple would block Flash. Help anyone?
      • dualityim, on 03/19/2008, -3/+19Same reason Apple would block Java Virtual Machine: both are virtual machine runtimes that can load programs compiled for their specific code platforms, which means both can run any applications made for their platforms, bypassing Apple's control. And Apple won't let that happen.
        • kevincannon, on 03/19/2008, -5/+15OR.... the iPhone isn't all that powerful and running Flash or Java, and it would run very very slowly on it.

          The Flash Plugin isn't really on any mobile devices for this very reason. I'm not sure why people keep ignoring that fact.
          • 80hd, on 03/19/2008, -3/+3flash is also a huge bandwidth drain and would cause more complaints than it would cure.

            I haven't missed seeing banner ads but I would be pissed as all hell if page loads doubled in length.
          • lengau, on 03/19/2008, -3/+3@kevincannon - for the umpteenth time, Nokia's internet tablets have Flash, and have pretty much *the same* hardware as the iPhone!
          • idslite, on 03/19/2008, -0/+3I don't know about that. The iPhone can handle emulators such as the Playstation and GameBoy. Sure not that well, but it still runs them.
        • revjustin2, on 03/19/2008, -0/+4Hmm...interesting. I have to admit that the whole control issue makes a certain amount of sense to me. It seems that one would have to maintain rather strict control over things for the whole "it just works" thing is to be maintained. Too many third-party variables and that whole Apple selling point starts to go down the crapper . I also think that the iPhone itself is much more prone to control freak issues since it is marketed as a phone and not a computer. The difference is akin to the difference between a hammer (a tool for a specific task) and a toolshed. In terms of functionality, one has a much more limited scope than the other. A hammer is expected to hammer ***** in well, but that's all you get - a hammer. An iPhone has many more features than "phone", but people still have the expectation that it does that stuff that it's supposed to do really well. Start adding a bunch of third party variables to the mix and soon you've changed the whole concept of the iPhone itself.
          Does that mean that it shouldn't run Flash? No. I think it should. It just means that Apple is understandably touchy and judging from what I've read here, their relationship with Adobe is kind of rough, thus complicating things.
      • CodeCobalt, on 03/19/2008, -1/+10There are striped down flash plugins that can be found for ppc. and they are getting close hardware wise... The processors they've got in these phones is very impressive... I believe I read that there are some phones out with dual core processors now.. only 450MHz, but very impressive.


        And if apple wont allow it because it by passes their control.. . well that sounds worse than microsoft. Hell at least on a ppc or pc you can do whatever you want with it, they don't care once you've paid for it. I mean yea they want you to buy their stuff, and they'll advertise it... but for a consumer thats willing to do a little searching so worth it.
        • lengau, on 03/19/2008, -4/+3"flash plugins that can be found for ppc."
          The iPhone is ARM-based, not PPC. So look more at the N800's Flash (made by Adobe). The N800 has similar hardware to the iPhone, so I don't see why it's a problem.

          "well that sounds worse than microsoft."
          Apple have been more controlling than MS for a long time. Steve jobs loves his vertical integration. It's really annoying, actually.
          • dualityim, on 03/19/2008, -0/+2PPC in CodeCobalt's post stands for PocketPC. Sometimes, context is everything.
      • dn11, on 03/19/2008, -3/+6The fact that is a virtual machine is what gives it power. As long as you have Flash installed the experience of your video or ap or whatever will be the same regardless of the platform. Ajax and other solutions relay on you having the right browser that can support all of Ajax's features. The reason Apple doesn't want Flash is two fold -1) they are control freaks 2) and they are having back room dealings with Adobe over Acrobat and it's future - they basically want to create new standards themselves, even though widely used and adopted standards already exist and have an install base of over 90% I say fine, and Adobe should stop producing and supporting apps like Photoshop for Macs - because as a Windows and Adobe user it is the integration across all the apps that is important to me - whether it is Photoshop, Flash, Illustrator, Premiere etc. If Apple wants to make their own, go ahead and try.
        • directrix13, on 03/19/2008, -1/+6I'm not an Apple fanboy by any means. But Apple has done quite a lot to further push standards. In fact, you say "as you have Flash installed the experience of your video or ap or whatever will be the same regardless of the platform. Ajax and other solutions relay on you having the right browser that can support all of Ajax's features." Well, you either install that browser cross-platform (which it is available) or install that Flash plugin into another browser which is installed. Looks the same to me. Additionally, Safari is very standards compliant and what works in it works in most of the other browsers in the exact same way. Real standards FTW!
          • dn11, on 03/19/2008, -2/+1But will Apple create and/or support standards that are available and work equally well under Windows or Linux? I have yet to see much proof that they are willing to do that. iTunes, for example, is a dog on Windows. The reason Adobe is favorable in my mind is, at least historically, they have no reason to be biased against either Apple or Windows - their products work well under both. Additionally - I don't want to use Safari. I want to use whatever web browser I choose, currently Firefox. My belief, which I think is realistic for historical reasons, is that Apple, in order to push the Mac and iPhone platforms will continue to promote exclusive features that will lead to fragmentation of the internet - not real standards (Youtube on iPhone for example is not the "real" Youtube). I guess the real problem is this - "standards" like Ajax aren't powerful enough yet (and aren't fully supported by iPhone anyway). I'm afraid of what will be created in order to fill in that gap. It is also far more difficult and time consuming to implement the same features in Ajax vs Flash. And speaking as someone that does design and comp as well as coding - it is important to me that the tools of the trade for design work - which happen to be Adobe apps, are able to be seamlessly integrated into a development environment - Flash offers that - and it also offers Actionscript 3.0 which is a powerful, high performance implementation of ECMAScript standards.
          • directrix13, on 03/19/2008, -0/+4Yes, Apple is supporting standards that work equally well under Windows. What works in Safari will work in Firefox pretty well too. Whats nice about Safari is its open source WebKit underpinnings which keeps 'em honest. And JavaScript along with canvas, audio, video tags are going to make it every bit as powerful as Flash. In a truly cross-platform way. Right now you are actually asking for just the opposite. To be locked into the proprietary Flash world. I can't wait for Flash to be unnecessary (a situation which is rapidly approaching).
    • dn11, on 03/19/2008, -8/+11Do you kneel down and pray towards Cupertino 3 times per day too?
      • clak, on 03/19/2008, -2/+4How did you know?
        • dn11, on 03/19/2008, -3/+3I've got friends like you. I know Jobs gospel being preached when I see it :)
    • grindmygears, on 03/19/2008, -8/+3I agree but if Apple wants to continue to compete they will have to let it happen. Especially with the MS announcement that they will be embedding Flash in Windows Mobile. If not, they are indeed on the road to destruction and end up like HD-DVD.
      • 80hd, on 03/19/2008, -0/+2No kidding. I hate checking the radar and not having to wait for banner ads to slow down page loads.
    • ausfahrt, on 03/19/2008, -2/+1That may be true but when it comes to the iphone and flash it's apple's fault it's not coming and they are still the asses when it comes to flash on the iphone. The fact that you can't blame them for promising it and taking it away is the problem in itself. They didn't promise it which they should.
    • yabos, on 03/19/2008, -0/+3Steve Jobs just said in the current implementation, Flash is too slow and Flash Lite is not useful for most things you want to do. He didn't say anything about blocking it if Adobe made a version that wouldn't eat up the battery.
      • senatorpjt, on 03/20/2008, -1/+1Too bad he didn't say the same thing about EDGE. Seriously though, even if Flash is too slow, it's better than having no ability at all to navigate through a Flash page when you have to.
    • ThreeDee912, on 03/19/2008, -0/+2Although I do believe Flash should be made for the iPhone, I also believe we are becoming way too dependent on Flash. It's almost like Flash has a monopoly on the web. Most interactive content uses Flash. The millions of videos on YouTube are encoded in FLV (FLash Video), the tons of flash games scattered over various sites, all those websites using flash animations as a part of the layout, banner ads, hell, even ENTIRE sites are made with Flash.

      There should be some good alternative to Flash. Right now, it has barely any competition.
      • lynx44, on 03/19/2008, -0/+1Well Microsoft is trying with Silverlight. I have nothing for or against them, but whatever your viewpoint is, at least its competition.
      • senatorpjt, on 03/20/2008, -2/+1What's going to be easier, to get every web developer in the world to stop using Flash, or to develop a Flash plugin for the iPhone?
        • ThreeDee912, on 03/20/2008, -0/+2What's going to be easier, to get every computer user in the world to stop using Windows, or...?
    • dserfaty, on 03/19/2008, -0/+1Dugg for "Steve Jobs eats kittens for breakfast".
    • jerseyjake, on 03/19/2008, -1/+0Now, I do remember the article that was around a month or two ago explaining how flash is made for desktop PC's and how it is considerably wasteful with power consumption and clock cycles. However, I do not recall this article being written by Adobe. Therefore, I'm fairly certain that if good ol' Mr. Jobs gives all the specifics on the iPhone to Adobe, Adobe will be able to make something that's fairly decent as far as compatibility with most flash sites, without insane power consumption.

      Another thing regarding the power consumption: we all understand that blasting YouTube videos at full volume eats up the batter in about 4 hours, or listening to mp3's will kill the battery in 12 hours, compared to however many hours of talk/standby time. It's all relative. If users want to go to a flash site for 5 minutes, then at least they have the option to.

      That's my 2 cents.
    • Pyromite78, on 03/20/2008, -1/+1Fanboy
    • tomwhughes, on 03/20/2008, -0/+1Steve Jobs eats kittens for breakfast??!?!??
    • bwdd, on 03/20/2008, -1/+1Jobs said there would be a flash player on the iphone/ipod touch.
  • DiggLive, on 03/19/2008, -27/+10If Apple ends up blocking Flash on the iPhone, Adobe could make Photoshop a Windows-only app and see who laughs then.
    • timusca, on 03/19/2008, -4/+28Yeah, except that will never happen. The majority of Photoshop copies sold, I would bet, are for Mac. Even if more are sold for Windows, you really think Adobe will give up that much revenue to make a point?
    • TheWorm, on 03/19/2008, -1/+7Because that will happen.
    • CodeCobalt, on 03/19/2008, -9/+3While it'd be hilarious I don't see it happening... and why is the iphone getting more hype for something that phones already have. and the iphone wont have for months if at all.. Again the iphone has an amazing ground breaking design.. but everything else about that phone is weak.

      Commence the burying.
    • digitalpencil, on 03/19/2008, -3/+8Majority of art houses use macs so for Adobe to lock out their lead customers would be about the stupidest thing they could possibly do.
    • evanbooth, on 03/19/2008, -0/+3Call me crazy, but I think he was kidding.
    • DiggLive, on 03/19/2008, -1/+2You're right evan, hah. Thought people would get the sarcasm but oh well.
  • timusca, on 03/19/2008, -10/+109*sigh*

    I hope someone is developing AdBlock for the iPhone as we speak... I really do. Flash might be useful for some things, but it will make surfing the web a nightmare consisting of "FREE iPods for being the millionth customer"!
    • geoken, on 03/19/2008, -2/+40Flash is only enabling something which will exist no matter what. If Flash became irrelevent do you not think the annoying ads would immidiately go back to their GIF roots? Hell, some of the more annoying ones (like that jittereng windows dialog box) are still GIFs.

      Hating Flash for annoying advertisements is like hating paper because the billboards on your way to work are distracting.
      • timusca, on 03/19/2008, -5/+10No, its like hating billboards and being okay with paper. Which is precisely true. Except the billboard start playing loud, obnoxious videos that you can't turn off because the damn mute button is too hard to find.
        • dualityim, on 03/19/2008, -2/+3Flash is not like billboards at all. It is a lot more like paper: it is a platform upon which developers can make applications.
        • directrix13, on 03/19/2008, -3/+3You both are way off. Flash is like a southern California condor.
      • designerutah, on 03/19/2008, -7/+0And you hate Flash when you use YouTube, right? Because last I heard, YouTube used Flash for their videos.
        • Dubbsacc, on 03/19/2008, -2/+6H.264

          "Beginning in June 2007, newly uploaded videos will also be encoded using the H.264 video standard to enable streaming of YouTube videos on the Apple TV, iPhone, and iPod touch."

          http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/YouTube
          • dualityim, on 03/19/2008, -0/+1Flash and H.264 are completely different things. H.264 is a standard for video codecs, and flash is a software platform upon which you can build video playback applications. Previously Youtube's video player was built on an older version of Flash that used the Sorenson video codec. Youtube has updated to the newer version of Flash that uses a H.264 based codec.
        • 80hd, on 03/19/2008, -2/+2I don't understand at all why giving up screen space and fast page loads to ads is even remotely worth being able to play flash games or watch non-youtube flash video. And do you really want to watch metacafe videos inside mobile safari? That just sounds aweful
      • pegothejerk, on 03/19/2008, -0/+3except billboards are vinyl. but close enough.
    • likwidfuzion, on 03/19/2008, -1/+4There is already an AdBlock for jailbroken iPhones: http://cocoamug.com/adblock/
    • bismark90, on 03/19/2008, -5/+10except that animated gifs don't spike my CPU and start my fans blowing full blast like the flash ones do.
    • betobeto, on 03/19/2008, -0/+6Being asked to punch monkeys on my iPhone? Um... God, no.
      • drzeus, on 03/20/2008, -1/+1Even if Flash Player never shows up on iPhone, I guarantee that you will be asked to punch monkeys (or something just as annoying) on the iPhone with some other technology.
    • Zindrix, on 03/19/2008, -1/+3I still don't understand why all these Apple people hate Flash. Is it the thought of compatible software that scares them?
    • getisboy, on 03/19/2008, -1/+1I was the 1000th person on digg!
      • ECas123, on 03/20/2008, -0/+1I was the millionth. And I also won a free PS3 and first gen iPod Nano!
    • scy1192, on 03/19/2008, -0/+2http://www.adbarricade.com/
      just put their dns numbers into your router
  • clesch, on 03/19/2008, -8/+40How about fixing Flash for Safari 3 first?
    • simplynix, on 03/19/2008, -2/+6How about they update their damn SDK so we can get better than Flash 7 on portables, not just the iPhone? My Wii needs better Flash.
      • Dubbsacc, on 03/19/2008, -3/+1That's a Nintendo issue, sorry. I sure Flash 9 could be used on the Wii. That's only if Nintendo bought it.

        Even then, I think there is a restriction to OEM's, and they are only allowed to purchase a Flash license for the previous version (which would be Flash 8).
    • michelspc, on 03/19/2008, -4/+2Since Apple only allows standalone applications on the iPhone, Adobe would need to develop a browser for the iPhone with integrated flash.
    • JonLatane, on 03/19/2008, -0/+6Seriously. There's only two cases when the fan turns on in my Macbook: I'm running a resource-intensive game, or if there's Flash on a web page.
      • Lewiji, on 03/19/2008, -0/+2Damn right. I was on Orb last night, when using the Flash player full screen my processor was running at 50%, 70 degrees with fans on full. I changed to quicktime and the fans were barely even moving.
      • alpha88, on 03/19/2008, -0/+1Same, my Macbook Pro fan only turns on when running flash or games. It doesn't seem to care if I'm running a few CS3 programs, listening to music on itunes and running windows xp in vmware fusion at the same, but that flash is a killer.
      • 3vno, on 03/20/2008, -0/+1watching any video fan will turn on.
    • maxsunset, on 03/19/2008, -5/+3How about downloading a good browser like firefox instead? Problem solved.
      • tehmacuser, on 03/19/2008, -0/+1Flash won't be fixed if you're still under OS X, it's Adobe's horrible programmers that need to work on it, regardless of browser. Especially since Firefox is -slower- on OS X than Safari is.

        Even if that [hypothetically] wasn't the case (and downloading Firefox -would- solve the problem), Safari would still need to be fixed as Apple's flagship browser.
      • alpha88, on 03/19/2008, -0/+1Firefox is the worst, and I mean the WORST browser to use flash on. It lags ridiculously. On Mac OS X, Safari is the best for flash, followed by Opera, followed by Firefox.
  • Gabberwok, on 03/19/2008, -10/+48Frankly aside from streaming video, it's kind of nice not to have Flash on the iPhone. I hate those f***ing ads.
    • dmadip, on 03/19/2008, -0/+10if by streaming video you mean redtube? then yes we all want flash on the iPhone
    • dn11, on 03/19/2008, -0/+2but do you seriously think people wouldn't find other ways to create annoying ads without Flash? Whatever standards the iPhone eventually adopts - people will find ways to create spam. it just happens that flash has the widest install base right now.
    • MixMastaKooz, on 03/19/2008, -0/+3I think it would work best if it's like how youtube works on the iphone. You wouldn't get Flash inline with the webpage, but when you touch the flash element on a page, it opens into a full screen flash applet.
      • 80hd, on 03/19/2008, -0/+1No kidding.
        By the time adblock gets done with a page, I might as well just remove flash support from FF except for youtube on occasion.
        The thought of longer page load times, only so that adverts can take up screen-space just sounds awful. It's a very good thing this is optional.
    • coolbru, on 03/19/2008, -1/+9Why use it for Video? iPhone already has better video than flash - why clutter up nice clean H.264 with a Flash wrapper?
      • dn11, on 03/19/2008, -4/+2because cross platform is a good thing. Apple claims the iPhone delivers you the "real web" but that is a lie. It is the Apple approved version of the web
    • chokeaduck, on 03/19/2008, -0/+2Can't we have an AdBlock+ for Safari or whatever browser the Iphone uses?
  • Sethwm2, on 03/19/2008, -8/+3YES!! GO Adobe!! Go Mr. Shantanu Narayen!!
  • Iwantawii, on 03/19/2008, -3/+8scrabulous!!!!!
  • weneedsound, on 03/19/2008, -1/+14This could be awesome or bad. I don't like the idea of the advertisements but flash video embeds would be great.
    • MixMastaKooz, on 03/19/2008, -0/+3Why does it have to be embedded? It should work as a page element and launch a separate flash player (I think this would work best with flash games and movies...and maybe some flash only websites).
      • weneedsound, on 03/19/2008, -0/+2Actually; Good Idea. I visualize a flash element as a preview/place holder in the webpage and when you click on it, (like clicking on a youtube link) it would load into a full-screen mode on the iPhone.

        Think of the IE 'click here to activate this element' message, but when you click on it, it loads into a flash player.
    • loudog40, on 03/20/2008, -0/+2Embedded Flash videos are most likely rendered in software, which is a killer for battery life. iPhone is able to play video so efficiently because it has special hardware to render h.264 video without burdening the processor. This is one of the reasons YouTube is in the process of re-encoding all of their videos from Flash-encoding to h.264.
  • lquid, on 03/19/2008, -9/+55Who let the first 3 people comment?
    ***** retards.
    • walkerdarin2003, on 03/19/2008, -17/+5let? its digg retard. you log in and comment. is this a new concept for you to recognize?
    • leerayIG88, on 03/19/2008, -0/+2"Mc Skillet Burrito"
      Mmm.... Sounds good.
  • DErallde, on 03/19/2008, -16/+3adobe is will make it great then apple will buy rights and name it iFlash and make it work half as well
    • chrisxkelley, on 03/19/2008, -0/+9You win the best grammar on Digg award! Congrats!
  • TremorX, on 03/19/2008, -10/+2Noooooooooooooooooooooo!!!!!!!!!!
  • over900000, on 03/19/2008, -3/+13But But But what about the battery life???
  • credential101, on 03/19/2008, -6/+3It's about time!!!
  • Gundemwing0, on 03/19/2008, -6/+2well know how quickly you can make apps for the iphone on the sdk its should be out in a few hours...
  • mizike, on 03/19/2008, -7/+64*****, it's like you guys want it to only have a 15 minute battery life....."my new iphone is sweet, it's got flash, GPS and a built in easy bake oven.....huh, why did it just turn off after 30 seconds of use?, my muffins aren't ready yet!!"

    sometimes less is more...
    • betobeto, on 03/19/2008, -1/+6And that's why I'm no longer using NES or other console emulators on the iPhone either. Same issue. Yes, they're cool, but I'd rather avoid the big burden of replacing the battery sooner than expected.
    • 80hd, on 03/19/2008, -0/+2No kidding. Adobe bloat on a portable? Thanks but it's bad enough scrolling real fast and having to stop and wait for the grey/white checker board to disappear.
      I don't understand why this is being greeted as an improvement. What is being gained that is so worth the performance/battery life/screenspace that will be lost??
  • JasonCox, on 03/19/2008, -3/+30Adobe, I love you and do you know why?

    Jobs doesn't want Flash on the iPhone yet you're going to do it anyway-
    Yet all of us x64 Windows and Linux users have been begging for a few years to get an x64 version of Flash and you outright refuse to do it.
    And lets not forget that you're only doing this because Ballmer talked about bringing Silverlight to the iPhone.
    • fuhcough, on 03/19/2008, -3/+3i use x64 windows and have zero problems using the 32-bit version of Flash. Why could you possibly need a 64-bit version and how big do you think the market for such an app is?
      • lilzaphod, on 03/19/2008, -1/+8It doesn't matter what the market size is. Only the 'cool' kids run x64, and they demand the very best.

        x64 bit OS' seems to be the new technology martyr battle cry now that no one gives a crap about the Amigas..
    • geoken, on 03/19/2008, -0/+4There's a pretty big difference between Adobe 'outright refusing' and the current reality where no-one is able to provide a legitimate reason for the necessity of said 64bit port.
    • digiguy, on 03/19/2008, -0/+0I highly doubt Adobe is going to waste their time if Apple won't approve
  • londubh, on 03/19/2008, -3/+12Shortly thereafter it was announced that flashblock will be developed for the iphone.
  • thatkidrich44, on 03/19/2008, -9/+5This is great news for flash developers. There isn't much I can't do with flash, and making a truly mobile app for the iphone is a great thing.
    • fuhcough, on 03/19/2008, -3/+3i agree. flash support for the iPhone is almost as "monumental" as Apple releasing the SDK.
  • revjustin2, on 03/19/2008, -3/+2Casual Collective on my iPod Touch FTW!!! (Hopefully)
  • megaton, on 03/19/2008, -1/+6I wonder how they're going to get around the "no interpreted code" part of the license agreement...
  • olsonjj, on 03/19/2008, -1/+5Just so everyone understands, if Adobe creates Flash for the iPhone using Apples SDK, it won't be able to be used within Safari. Apple hasn't made any method for this to be achieved.
    However -- this doesn't prevent Adobe from writing their AIR runtime to the iPhone. If its a completely AIR runtime, it can leverage Webkit and flash and Adobe (or someone) could write their own AIR-based browser w/ Flash to compete with the iPhone Safari.
    • serif69, on 03/19/2008, -0/+1What part of "no interpreted code" don't you understand?
    • bigsteve, on 03/19/2008, -0/+1I don't know who dugg you up or where you heard that "Apple hasn't made any method for this to be achieved." MobileSafari has the same plug-in architecture as full-grown Safari. It's completely possible for a flash plug-in to be written and dropped in to interpret flash elements. Will it actually happen? Who knows, for a laundry list of speculated reasons from all sides that I don't care to list here, including serif69's point. But the answer -isn't- that Apple hasn't put together and documented an entry point for such an interpreter.
      • olsonjj, on 03/19/2008, -0/+1BigSteve -- I'm talking about the SDK and the method in which Adobe has made available for Adobe to sell their App. Unless Adobe gets special consideration, they will be confined to the same "sandbox" as other apps sold through the store. Not sure if you have read any of the articles online or scanned the SDK, but its not a license to run any software and interact w/ anything you would like.

        If you can reference something else, please point it out here because everything I've read and used so far, points to the contrary. ---> Developers can not make apps with the current SDK that interact with other apps. Now -- having said that.. its quite possible Apple could change.. but as its written right now, it doesn't appear someone can do anything because build standalone apps that run in the foreground.

        But I welcome additional info if you can point it to it.

        FYI -- read this post by Billy Perry at Adobe first: http://www.flashdevices.net/2008/03/adobe-flash-pl ...
        quote " More work needs to be done with Apple however, as the SDK and the license associated with it doesn't enable us to bring the full Flash experience on the iPhone's Safari web browser"
        • bigsteve, on 03/20/2008, -0/+1I'm a user of the SDK and I'm aware of the inter-app interaction limitation. My point was that the technical limitations didn't exist, but rather licensing-related political reasons, which you've cleared up here.
    • amadeusdemarzi, on 03/19/2008, -0/+23.3.2 An Application may not itself install or launch other executable code by any means, including without limitation through the use of a plug-in architecture, calling other frameworks, other APIs or otherwise. No interpreted code may be downloaded and used in an Application except for code that is interpreted and run by Apple’s Published APIs and built-in interpreter(s).

      I don't know how Apple will let this fly unless Adobe has a special agreement with Apple?
  • 4DFX, on 03/19/2008, -3/+12One thing is certain...
    There won't be a 64bit version
    • lilzaphod, on 03/19/2008, -3/+4boo fricken hooo... All 12 of you martyrs can blog about it together in your web ring. Right now it not a viable market for Adobe to write for.
    • geoken, on 03/19/2008, -2/+2Actually to things are certain

      There won't be a 64bit version

      People complaining about the lack of a 64bit version won't be able to provide any reasons for it's necessity
      • 4DFX, on 03/19/2008, -0/+2Oh right, because 64 is bad huh?
        I was kidding in this case, but come on.. 64bit is the future no matter how you put it.
        • supermansuper, on 03/19/2008, -3/+1Well, flash will come on 64bit in the 'future'. STFU now!
    • yabos, on 03/19/2008, -3/+1And? Why the hell would you need 64bit flash plugin. What are you doing that requires over 4GB of RAM with Flash?
      • chokeaduck, on 03/19/2008, -0/+3...eventually it will be needed. Not sure of a conceivable use at the moment, but trust me, eventually there will be a use for that amount of RAM.
  • wintersland, on 03/19/2008, -3/+3While they are on it can they finish off doing it for all the UIQ3 Symbian phones out there too?

    I wouldnt mind it on my Sony Ericsson P1 :)
  • machosos, on 03/19/2008, -0/+4finally!!!!
  • DanBoodro, on 03/19/2008, -5/+3Adobe products on the iPhone...iPhotoshop? iIllustrator? iDreamweaver? iCS3?
    • DanBoodro, on 03/19/2008, -4/+1I still think they should make a stylus that works with the iPhone for hand written notes, doodling, and even games.
  • debuffplx, on 03/19/2008, -1/+24This is great news. I've always wanted to see ***** flash intros, annoying flash ads and even more annoying flash widgets on my iPhone.
    • bigsteve, on 03/19/2008, -0/+3Finally someone with sense. Let's burden the iPhone with the ultimate toolkit for tasteless, standard-incompliant, inflexible, un-indexable, handicapped-unfriendly web experiences. Oh, and let's lock the standard up and let the awful bastards at Adobe dictate it to us. This is -exactly- what the platform needs. Ugh, I enjoy surfing on my iPhone... it's quiet (especially now that there's an AdBlock for it) .. no irritating blinking things. I'd rather see the new video tags in HTML be used to properly deliver multimedia content, and AJAX be used for dynamic web content.

      Dear Apple.

      Please use the iPhone to show Adobe that people don't need Flash to have a great mobile (or otherwise) web experience.

      Your pal,
      big steve.
      • olsonjj, on 03/19/2008, -2/+1I think Steve wants the days when all he had was text-based internet. Yeah TurboGopher!!!

        Flash definitely does not have the market cornered on any of those things you mentioned. Thats just ***** implementation by someone. I have seen just as much junk done in Ajax or even pure HTML (tables, frame sets) that nearly as bad. And I've seen great sites done with Flash/Flex that are completely usable, indexable (google does index swf- btw or you can use alternate text via SWFObject), and can work completely with the back/forward button.

        The reality of the situation is that is nearly everywhere and nearly on every site (not including ads). To provide a "true" web experience, people want Flash. And for designers/developers -- Flash/Flex make it work the same way on any browser and any desktop OS (ie, ff, safari, mac, pc, linux) without having to create a bunch of hacks to make sure it works the same way on every implementation of a browser.
      • RyanElston, on 03/20/2008, -2/+1big steve, sounds like your sick of all the flash devs working out of nice agencies and making 120K a year while most Javascript guys are at 60k and most of their day is spent tweaking there sites for IE. Something flash devs don't ever ever ever ever EVER have to worry about.

        You seriously sound bitter. Flash IS the future of the web. And why does everyone still think that the flash standard is locked? The only thing about flash that is closed is the IDE's themselves, anyone can make an app that outputs a swf.
        • bigsteve, on 03/20/2008, -0/+2I've never heard of a Flash dev getting 120k, but I don't know salaries because development isn't really my industry. I'm not bitter at all, I'm just wary of what could cause a slide in standards compliance. Nothing as content-static as Flash could be the future of anything.

          I'm familiar with the swf format being open and documented, I was speaking of Adobe being one singular entity (and a bastardly one at that) being allowed to lead the way with it.
      • d0onut, on 03/20/2008, -0/+1But what about the porn?!
    • Lionhart, on 03/20/2008, -1/+1So don't install it if you don't want it. What's the big deal?
  • benthook, on 03/19/2008, -2/+3How about a linux shockwave player first?
    • olsonjj, on 03/19/2008, -1/+1Shockwave for linux? why bother. Director is dead. The last update was in 2004, prior to this weak release. Adobe AIR is the new director.
      • FreDre, on 03/19/2008, -0/+1Actually Adobe is going to release Director 11 this month
      • benthook, on 03/27/2008, -0/+1Cuz I wanna play some flippin Isketch in ubuntu!!!
  • Slick50, on 03/19/2008, -1/+13Let's cut through the crap and get to the important stuff. Does this mean Youporn on the iPhone?
  • nirav72, on 03/19/2008, -0/+1Don't really care for those annoying flash ad banners. But flash player that can finally run Flex Or Air apps! Drooolll...
  • Jamieee, on 03/19/2008, -3/+6Why don't they fix the mac version first? It uses > 60% cpu with me.
  • lumbergh, on 03/19/2008, -1/+9Youporn.com on the iPhone would be pretty cool, admittedly.
  • Berek, on 03/19/2008, -2/+3I'm still waiting for a 60gig iPhone then I'm in.
  • SpookyApplePie, on 03/19/2008, -5/+6JESUS CHRIST FINALLY!!!!!!!!
    • serif69, on 03/19/2008, -1/+3That's what the Romans said 1,973 years ago this Friday...
  • marcoionox, on 03/19/2008, -2/+0I wonder what happens to the cache of Safari, it will be overloaded with many Flash.

    Anyway, I'm pretty happy with this announcement.
  • kadyca, on 03/19/2008, -1/+0Folks, based on the recording of the earnings call, it doesn't at all sound like that is what he said. It would seem that the Dow Jones report on which this is based has mischaracterized his statements. Besides, that's not Adobe's business model for mobile. They license the source code to the OEM, then it's up to the OEM to port it to the device. Even in the case of the reference ports for open platforms (like Symbian or Brew) that they do, the OEMs still optimize starting from the raw source code. They don't just take the reference port. hth
    • tucsonwc, on 03/19/2008, -0/+1That is not what the conference call said. The CEO said they had the SDK and were going to create a version of Flash for the iPhone. He did not indicate if it would not SUCK or not, or how they would get it to work with Safari. So other than making an Adobe Air environment for the iPhone, I'm not sure what this will do. Now, if they make a version that does NOT suck, and will integrate well with iPhone Safari and is not a memory hog, etc. etc. maybe Apple will look at it. If they just port the existing crap, then I doubt it will get past Apple.
  • skacr0w, on 03/19/2008, -3/+0How about Flash 9 for Wii!? I'm pretty sure there are more Wii's than iPhones
  • digiguy, on 03/19/2008, -1/+0Finally, I can view stickam and JTV on my iPhone
  • spacebuddy, on 03/19/2008, -1/+7Now I can watch youporn.com on my touch, sweet :)
  • kadyca, on 03/19/2008, -0/+1From the replay of the earnings call: "Well, you know, we really believe that Flash is synonymous with the Internet and frankly anybody who wants to browse the Web and experience the Web in all its glory really needs Flash support. I mean, we were very excited about the announcement from Windows mobile adoption of Flash on their devices and the fact that we¹ve shipped a half billion devices now, non-PC devices -- so we¹re also committed to bringing the Flash experience to the iPhone and we¹ll work with Apple. We¹ve evaluated the SDK we can now start to develop the Flash Player ourselves. And, we think it benefits our joint customers so we want to work with Apple to bring that capability to the device."
  • Zlorp, on 03/19/2008, -1/+2ok, now i want an iphone
  • stunkcrunk, on 03/19/2008, -1/+2I want homestarrunner.com to work finally...
  • coachmcguirk, on 03/19/2008, -2/+3Wow. Apple says it, and Adobe gets to work?
    Nice pull apple has...
  • mindracer, on 03/19/2008, -1/+2If flash isnt on the iphone/itouch, how can you watch youtube already? are they using something else other than flash? (i dont have anything apple so im just wondering)
    • smokinaces46, on 03/19/2008, -0/+5The youtube videos available to watch on the iPhone have been converted to a different codec, h.264.
  • Gameflyer, on 03/19/2008, -2/+3Wait, if the iphone didn't have flash already, how did they get youtube to work on it?
    • jordantv3wiki, on 03/19/2008, -1/+3Apple teamed up with Google to make it work. Its running as an actual application. Not as a webapp
    • digitallysick, on 03/19/2008, -0/+10My understanding that the videos that play on youtube for the iphone are in h.264 and not flash.
    • cwoolf34, on 03/19/2008, -2/+3What rock have you been living under? YouTube had to re-encode the entire library to have a second version available in h.264 format. When the iPhone first launched YouTube only had less than half of the videos converted for iPhone playback. I am assuming that by now all the videos have been converted to meet iPhone requirements and still have the original FLV available for the majority of the site's users.
  • digitallysick, on 03/19/2008, -0/+3"begins work on flash player for iphone" wtf, it should be finished by now. I don't use flash often so i hope i have the option to turn it on, and off at my own will.
  • hiraikotsu, on 03/19/2008, -2/+4I wish Adobe would release an updated version of Flash for Wii. It's a shame that none of the good online TV channels (such as Hulu) don't work on Wii Opera.
    • nirav72, on 03/19/2008, -1/+3Why is this guy getting dugged down? He has a valid point. Flash plugin on the WII browser is useless. Plays some google and youtube videos. thats about it. They need to make it version 9.
      • DarkLaughingMan, on 03/20/2008, -0/+0It's not really just Adobe's doing (I believe it's a licensing problem between Adobe and Opera).
  • meyert11, on 03/19/2008, -4/+3they have time for the iphone, but not 64bit?
    • tucsonwc, on 03/19/2008, -0/+164 bit apparently is not cool enough (ie big marketshare). Also, Adobe does not want to be locked out of the platform. And Microsoft has also said they would put Silverlight on as well. So double pressure. Just because either of them develop these things doesn't mean they will get onto the App Store if they don't meet Apple's requirements. AND that is a very good thing.
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