Adobe confirms Flash for iPhone is ready to rock

iPhone owners have been lamenting the absence of full Flash support on their web-savvy handsets since Apple launched the original iPhone with the promise of full web browsing functionality. iPhone detractors have pointed out the iPhone and iPhone 3G‘s lack of Flash support as a critical flaw in the handset. Whatever the case, it’s sad that Apple didn’t consider Flash a part of the full web browsing experience.

And, following on months of speculation about when, or even if, Flash was ever going to be supported on the iPhone and iPhone 3G, Adobe has confirmed that Flash is ready to rock the wireless web on the iPhone. The only hangup from this point on is Apple’s approval of Flash for the iPhone.

Adobe Systems’ Sr. Director of Engineering, Paul Betlem confirmed during an Adobe Town Hall meeting that his team was actively developing Flash support on the iPhone. His team is apparently ready to go live with Flash on the iPhone as soon as Apple gives the go-ahead – the ball is now in Apple’s court, as Adobe waits on Cupertino to give their nod of approval.

Full Flash support has eluded the mobile space for too long. Mobile phone processors are typically too weak to make desktop Flash solutions work, and the pared down version of Flash for mobile phones, dubbed Flash Lite, fails to deliver a full Flash experience. But, with the prospect of a custom-tailored iPhone Flash solution from Adobe, the mobile world could be on the verge of seeing full-fledged Flash support on the iPhone.

So, get on the horn and ask your local Congressman to push Apple to approve Adobe’s iPhone Flash solution. What? It doesn’t work like that? Oh fiddle-sticks.

[Via: FlashMagazine]

About The Author

Will Park

Will hails from The City of Angels - Los Angeles, California. He spends his time playing with his numerous gadgets and looking forward to seeing what future holds for mobile technology. An avid promoter of a fully "digital" life, he promotes the widespread adoption of truly mobile, paper-less living. He dreams of the day when he can go completely digital. No more snail mail, paper receipts, bound books, notepads/spiral notebooks, credit cards, hard currency. He's a digital warrior - fighting for the converged life. He is an idealist and a realist - he has a perfect view of what the world should be but knows that the world is not perfect. Can we ever hope to see Will's dream become reality? We'll see...

jdubb

anyone checked out the mobile app through black xs fragrance on facebook? its sick!
Adam Cleaver

This is great news for anyone wanting to deliver brand experiences on mobile phones – it’s just a shame we still don’t know when it will happen. The powerful combination of the iPhone interface with the rich interactivity of Flash is something agencies, marketers and consumers will find hard to resist. Interestingly, we can also envisage a potential cost saving for clients as pre-existing Flash content is repurposed for mobile.

At present, it looks like there is only talk about the Flash plug-in on the Safari web browser. As such, Flash widgets per se are not really on the cards yet. Native iPhone widgets/applications in Flash are still a good while away, but we wait with anticipation for the opportunity to use this new technology.
Jose Bruin

Apple will never go for flash on the iphone. Too much money to be made with the ‘applications’ on the iphone. Flash would directly conflict with that.
Coffeejolts

I hope that Apple DOES NOT allow Flash. Flash is a CPU killer on a desktop machine, let alone a mobile phone. Plus, it has a tendency to crash / lock-up the browser. The last thing anyone needs is Flash running amok on their phone.

I don’t even have an iPhone, but I have worked with Flash. It doesn’t belong on a phone.
Barb

I can’t wait for Flash to show up for the iPhone. I am a sign language interpreter and there are some great ASL sites I would use regularly if I could. netsignnews.com and deafmd.org are just two of them. I NEED FLASH ON THE IPHONE! If people are worried about bloat or performance, make it optional, just like javascript etc.
tmetz

coffeejolts…. why are you even posting on the topic if you don’t own an iphone? seems odd to me that you even care at all…
I think flash would be a nice addition to the iphone (and i own an iphone, so i get a vote! )
Jawad Khan

With the addition of Flash on Iphone, I will simple buy an Iphone.. and many many people will book their Iphone.. With flash power in web gaming and with Iphone’s hi res screen in comparison with the other handsets, many interesting games and applications will be built for Iphone.

@Coffeejolts:
creating an application which is CPU killer is dependent on the developer. How smart the developer is?.. Ur statement about crashing / hanging the browser has no weight at all. If a single app in thousands of apps had ever hanged your browser, then plz don’t blame rest of the apps and their developers and the flash itself. Anyways, bugs and crashing can be on any application created with ANY technology, I really don’t understand what point you want to make?.. a good developer will create a clean and memory effcient app. And that app will got the potential to reach 1000′s of people. However a buggy app will never be able to get famous on the first hand.
nate

this stinks i can not get it on my ipod touch though