The war between Adobe and Apple doesn’t seem to be ending anytime soon, and many web and app developers are starting to take sides in the debate. Recently a Facebook group titled I’m with Adobe was created. The members of this group believe that Steve Jobs and Apple are unfairly targeting Adobe’s flagship Flash product and severely limiting their development platform for the iPad and iPhone.
The group’s description states:
The recent war between Adobe and Apple reached a breaking point on April 8, 2010, when Steve Jobs not only recommitted to never allowing Flash to run on the iPhone or iPad, but even banning Adobe’s new Flash-to-iPhone C compiler which was to go on sale Saturday, April 10.
There is no longer any debate as to who the “bad guy” is in this story — Apple has proven themselves to be anti-competition, anti-developer, and anti-consumer.
I stand with Adobe.
The group brings up very good points that are worth discussing. Apple avoiding supporting Flash on the iPad and iPhone because they believed (or at least said) that there were issues with stability and system resource usage. Ok. Fair enough. But since then Adobe has been working head over heals to deliver a version of Flash that would suit Apple’s company, device, and consumer needs. What did Apple do? Reject it.
So then Adobe goes back to the drawing board. They come up with a Flash to C compiler which can take Flash applications and make them work in C – the language for iPhone and iPad apps. So what does Apple do? If you guessed shoot down Adobe’s creation you are absolutely correct! Apple has stated that the will only accept apps created originally in C. This was one of many announcements and changes to their draconian terms of service which limit developers who create apps for Apple.
If you’ve read this blog before, you know I am not a Flash fan by any means. I think Flash will soon be a product of yesteryear unless Adobe makes some significant changes. Most things you can do in Flash you can do through other means. Need a cool photo slide show? Head over to Dynamic Drive and browse through their collection of image gallery scripts. Want to put a cool video on your site? Let HTML5 do the job. The only use for Flash I see is Flash games. Otherwise I avoid Flash on all of my websites, and encourage my clients to do the same.
With that said, it is important to note that I am siding with Adobe on this issue. Just like the members of the Facebook group we mentioned earlier said: Apple is the bad guy in this issue, simple as that. Their developer terms of service limit how apps can be programmed, what kind of apps are allowed, and how they will be sold. This limits creativity, profits, and apps consumers want. It seems like the iPhone will become the AOL of smart phones one day… limited, and designed for those that don’t know any better, which is kind of the opposite of how Apple used to be. They used to claim they were the solution to the monopoly and limitations of the PC world. Now Apple and corporate monopoly seem to go hand in hand. This is why I will never own an iPhone, iPad, or iAnything. I don’t like the way Apple is conducting business. The only thing they got right is Flash really isn’t all that great… but Apple isn’t all that great either (sans maybe Mac computers).
So what’s your opinion on the debate? Whose side are you on? Comment below.
Related Readings:
Adobe vs. Apple War Generates Facebook Group
Apple vs. Adobe: Steve Jobs responds
Adobe: Go Screw Yourself, Apple!
I’m With Adobe Facebook Group
The Gradual Disappearance of Flash Websites
April 17th, 2010 on 12:47 pm
I’m with Adobe.
Apple rejecting apps from their products because they’re not written in Objective C is like Microsoft disallowing apps from Windows because they’re not written in .NET
People wouldn’t stand for it is MS tried it, and why people think it’s ok for apple is beyond comprehension.
April 17th, 2010 on 1:47 pm
I think Apple gets away with it easier than Microsoft due to the loyalty of Apple followers. Apple users love their products, and in my opinion are often WAY too dedicated to them. A lot of times they can’t even see that there are better alternatives to their products. I mean look at the iPod. It sucks, horribly, but people love them. Steve Jobs has a cult following so people will take whatever he says and assume it is right.
I don’t see why Apple won’t allow Flash to C compiled programs. It it works without problem, why bother? I think their only reason for it is a stab at Adobe.
February 2nd, 2011 on 10:07 pm
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