Here’s why there’s no Flash on the iPhone/iPad/iPod

/ hsoi

This is a detailed letter from Steve Jobs as to why Flash isn’t on the iPhone/iPad/iPod.

You really need to read the article to get all the details, but briefly:

  1. Flash is a closed system. Yes Apple admits to some level of being closed, but HTML5, CSS, JavaScript are open standards.
  2. The “full web”
  3. Reliabilty, security, and performance. Flash fails in all 3 areas.
  4. Battery life. Flash drains it heavily and quickly.
  5. Touch interfaces. Flash isn’t designed for that.
  6. Inserting a third-party into the user experience can yield less than optimal results.

Speaking as not only a consumer of these products but also as an Apple Developer for almost two decades, I can say Apple’s reasons are quite sound.

One very telling and modern reason?

Flash was designed for PCs using mice, not for touch screens using fingers. For example, many Flash websites rely on “rollovers”, which pop up menus or other elements when the mouse arrow hovers over a specific spot. Apple’s revolutionary multi-touch interface doesn’t use a mouse, and there is no concept of a rollover. Most Flash websites will need to be rewritten to support touch-based devices. If developers need to rewrite their Flash websites, why not use modern technologies like HTML5, CSS and JavaScript?

This is quite true. Touch-based is where computing is headed, and Flash just doesn’t grok it. So yes, if you need to rewrite, might as well rewrite in more modern technology.

Anyway, instead of whining to get Flash, we should be encouraging web developers to move beyond Flash.

4 thoughts on “Here’s why there’s no Flash on the iPhone/iPad/iPod”

  1. Hate to disagree, but flash does indeed grok multi-touch…

    http://tv.adobe.com/watch/adc-presents/multitouch-capabilities-of-flash-player-101/

    My biggest issue with the lockout of flash for the iPad is less about open standards and more about open delivery environments. Don’t really like the fact that app developers have to get approval from Apple to sell in the only store in town (app store), don’t really like the fact that developers have to fork over 30% to apple (again only game in town) and really don’t like the fact that apple has the ability to remotely brick an app or device.

    • I’m torn on the whole “total control” situation.

      On the one hand yes, it sucks that they do have total control and final say. They’ve denied a lot of applications for reasons that don’t make sense or “aren’t right”. It’s not a truly free and open platform for people to uninhibitedly create with.

      But on the other hand, it’s precisely this level of control that allows Apple to provide such a good user experience. Even before the iPod/iPhone/iPad, Apple controlled everything. Everyone always looked at it as Apple vs. Microsoft, and to some degree it was, but the reality was Microsoft sold a software OS and Apple sold hardware but then wrote an OS to make that hardware useful. So in the PC world you had tons of hardware but the one dominant OS, and since no one really controlled the experience it made for a rather miserable experience for people to use their PC’s and for Microsoft to support every damn vendor out there. For Apple, they controlled the computing experience from all angles, and it allowed for a more seemless, a more unified, and just an overall better experience. Yes it too had downsides, but on the whole by being able to control the experience it generally allowed for a better one.

      So, there’s pros and cons to each side of it. I certainly believe that if Apple didn’t have such tight controls, the experience of the iPod/iPhone/iPad wouldn’t be as glorious as it is.

      As for the Flash stuff, that’s cool. So… if it’s out there that there’s touch, you’d think Steve Jobs would know about it. Hrm. And I also found it amusing (perhaps strategically interesting) that Adobe produced that video using a Mac for the demo. 🙂

      • I just hope that his flash hatred doesn’t extend to his desktops. It’d be a shame for me to have to sell my Macbooks, Pro and Minis and go back to development on the pc 🙂

        • Flash will remain on the desktops because it’s already around.

          But consider how many CPU cycles Flash takes up. Consider how it drains your MacBook battery so quickly. Consider how much your web browser crashes and Flash is the cuprit. If Adobe could make a version of Flash that didn’t suck, then things would be different. 🙂

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