After Adobe’s announcement yesterday detailing the wide availability of Flash 10.1 on mobile devices across the board both monetarily and feature wise, many were left scratching their heads as to why the iPhone wasn’t anywhere to be seen. We all know ‘ol Stevie’s position on the matter — that Flash is not refined enough to be run on mobile hardware. However, with mobile devices starting to get packed with 1GHz+ processors, the rationale behind this argument may be worth another look…
Flash has been present in our daily lives for years on the “classic” desktop internet. Only recently have manufacturers and software developers tried to make the move to mobile. Early attempts were terrible at best as the weak processors of mobiles just a couple years ago were no where near powerful enough to handle the “mobile” versions of Flash. Apple has long maintained their stats quo of “eliteness” in a sense. They don’t follow the norm or what is mainstream. Some may pan Apple for their persistence on being different while others will applaud them. Besides, the most innovative and sought after technologies were never discovered by “following everyone else”, were they?
A perfect example of this “what is popular isn’t always best mentality” can be summed up in two words: Windows Mobile. Even though it has been around longer than most in the mobile sphere, it’s hardly the best. Hell, even Steve Ballmer admitted that Windows Mobile 7 should be here now and that they screwed up royally with their mobile platform. Spend a few minutes with Windows Mobile and try to tell me with a straight face that it can compete with the likes of Android and the iPhone OS.
All of this dialog and bantering leads up to one simple point: Could the iPhone survive without Flash? Instantly there will be two camps — Yes and No. Starting with the No camp — Flash has become so entrenched in the web that it would be seemingly stupid to not support it. But, that’s exactly what Apple has done thus far. On the other side, the “Yes” camp may highlight the iPhone’s ~2-1/2 year run without MMS. Even though it survived those two years without MMS, they weren’t exactly pretty as pleas for MMS (as well as many other basic features) went on and on like a droning school teacher from a high school chemistry class. Many will be quick to point out however that MMS is on the way out and Flash (while not new by any means) is just beginning to emerge into a new Renaissance of sorts.
The mobile sphere is a complex, quickly changing, no holds barred environment that moves so fast, news was old four seconds ago. Even though the iPhone has so far excelled while still lacking several highly sought after features both old and new, one has to ask themselves just how much longer Apple can take this stand, this approach and push against the very consumers that buy their products and still remain relevant. Is Flash the last straw? Will the rejection of Flash cast the iPhone from it’s throne as more flexible competitors move in to claim it’s place? Or, is Apple playing a fast one on us by withholding Flash until a later point at which it will magically become a “new” feature? Such thoughts and questions must conjure up some sort of voice from within. Let it out below.
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