Steve Jobs posts open letter on Flash


Thursday Apple posted "Thoughts on Flash" to its website in which Apple CEO Steve Jobs addresses the company's position on Adobe Flash.

In what will surely generate much discussion among the Intertubes, Jobs outlined a number of topics concerning Flash as he makes Apple's case for why it is denying the technology on the iPhone OS. He wrote about Mac OS and how despite the long history between the companies, recent history has shown a lack of commitment by Adobe to Apple's platforms. Specifically noting technical issues with Flash for Mac OS, and that Adobe's Creative suite is just now coming to OS X native Cocoa. (Note that Apple's own iTunes and Final Cut Pro are still Carbon. Stones, glass houses, etc).

Getting to the iPhone OS, Jobs points out that Flash is not an "open" standard and states Apple has adopted a number of alternative technologies, including its own Safari Webkit, that are open and controlled by standards committees. Jobs also makes the case that Flash lacks hardware video decoding for much of its video, which he says results in about 50% less battery life not to mention performance considerations. Also noted is the fact the Flash is a mouse UI that has extensive rollover interfaces which are not directly compatible with a touch interface. Jobs also makes the case of the security bugaboo and questions Adobe's track record in rolling out a mobile version of Flash. Adobe's current plan is to have Flash later this year debuting on Android. (Note that Apple has received criticism for lacking Flash Web support even though no other mobile platform offers it. )

The final reason addressed the separate issue of Flash as a development platform. With the release of CS5, Adobe had positioned Flash as a cross platform app development engine, allowing developers to write an app once to be easily deployed on multiple platforms. With recent changes in Apple's developer license, this is now not possible on the iPhone OS. As Jobs described, this creates a middle man between Apple and its developers that buffers new features. For example, if Flash apps were fully supported on the iPhone now, Apple would need to depend on Adobe to update its platform to accommodate the many significant changes in iPhone OS 4. Developers would either need to choose to wait for Adobe to do the update, or start over fresh. In short, the iPhone OS is developing rapidly and Adobe frankly hasn't proven it is up to the task to keep up.

Jobs concluded his letter by saying, "Flash was created during the PC era - for PCs and mice. Flash is a successful business for Adobe, and we can understand why they want to push it beyond PCs. But the mobile era is about low power devices, touch interfaces and open web standards - all areas where Flash falls short," and ends by suggesting Adobe "should focus more on creating great HTML5 tools for the future, and less on criticizing Apple for leaving the past behind."

Apple has clearly dug in on the subject, which may be unfortunate in the long run. Still it's encouraging to see the company publicly stated its reasons. Apple seems to have a strong case as to why it wants to restrict apps using unofficial APIs and third-party development platforms. Flash for the Web, however, likely will improve. Mobile obviously is where it's at, so Adobe is under enormous pressure to create a viable mobile solution. It's also worth noting that some of Apple's technical concerns may become less so as device performance improves. Down the road it seems conceivable Flash may mature to be a reasonable addition to Safari browsing, however, that seems now unlikely for reasons beyond technology.

One thing for certain is mobile web will occupy an ever increasing share of traffic and Websites will have to accommodate devices if they wish to retain customers. This will either result in sites moving away from Flash or devices adopting Flash. It seems Apple has positioned its considerable influence towards the marginalization if not elimination of Flash on the Web. This in itself isn't such a bad thing for everyone but Adobe, but could be a competitive disadvantage for Apple down the road. It will be interesting to see if Web developers and companies transition to Flash alternatives or whether Apple will be willing to reverse course.

Thoughts on Flash