Adobe's set to spread Flash to mobiles - but Apple's resisting

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Adobe's set to spread Flash to mobiles - but Apple's resisting

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By Ellie Mears (Wednesday, 19th November 2008)

99.3% of desktop computers are now installed with Flash, according to Adobe, the company that has developed and distributed the technology for the last three years. And just as well, since so many websites these days employ Flash technology for navigation and animation, most notably YouTube and Google Video.

With ever more people using their phones as fully-fledged internet devices, the ability to access Flash on mobiles is becoming imperative. After a spate of new smartphone releases Adobe has finally taken the hint and is working on a plan to bring its Flash technology to handsets around the world.

Whilst a cut-down version of the technology, Flash Lite, has been successfully delivered to around half a billion portable devices globally, Adobe is now planning to bring the full version of Flash Player 10 to higher-end smartphones.

And Adobe isn't the only big player desperate to gets its applications onto mobile handsets as well as PCs. Sun Microsystems has managed to bring Java to the majority of mid- to high-end phones, and is now developing a more advanced version called JavaFX, while an increasing number of smartphones and pocket PCs are now running on Microsoft's Windows Mobile operating system.

But whilst executives at Microsoft, Nokia (with Symbian) and Google (with Android) have embraced Flash technology with open arms, Apple, manufacturer of the king-of-smartphones iPhone is stridently resisting.

Many speculations have been made as to Apple's refusal to embrace the technology; the potential drain on the battery, for a start, along with a certain sniffiness on the part of Steve Jobs. The Apple CEO has reportedly described the full-blown version as "too slow to be useful" on the iPhone, and Flash Lite as "not capable of being used with the Web." Another plausible suggestion is that the plethora of free Flash based applications that would come with installation of full-blown Flash on the iPhone would compete directly with Apple's own paid-for applications sold via its Apps store.

Commenting on Apple's reluctance to install Flash on its mobile devices, Adobe's Chief Technology Officer Kevin Lynch said "This needs a little more baking. We need to pass the taste test of Apple's head chef." But Adobe is pushing for it.