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Adobe CEO responds to Apple’s ripping of Flash

By: , IntoMobile
Thursday, April 29th, 2010 at 2:43 PM


Apple CEO Steve Jobs took his war against Flash to a new level with a letter outlining why this pervasive web technology isn’t allowed on the iPhone OS. Adobe wasn’t going to sit around while all this smack was being talked and its CEO, Shantanu Narayen, had a few choice words in response during an interview with The Wall Street Journal.

If you remember, one of the biggest developmental changes in iPhone OS 4.0 is the banning of non-native iPhone dev tools like Adobe’s Flash-to-iPhone compiler. Adobe’s head said the technology problems in Jobs’ letter are “really a smokescreen” because multiple apps have already been accepted in the App Store without incident. He said that using licensing language to restrict development has “nothing to do with technology.”

Narayen was really flying fast and furiously because Apple was basically claiming anything wrong on a Mac was due to Flash and that proprietary standards aren’t good for the web. Adobe’s CEO said that “for every one of these accusations made there is proprietary lock-in” that doesn’t allow his company to innovate. He also said the Mac crashes with Flash are because of the operating system (or lack of full access it’s granted, I’d guess) than Adobe’s technology.

Narayan also said that he and Jobs have different views of the world because Adobe’s CEO views the world as multi-platform. There are plenty more interesting tidbits in the link below, so check it out when you get a chance.

I completely understand both sides of the arguments and am having a tough time deciding. Say what you will about Apple and its draconian ways, the iPhone OS does deliver an excellent user experience even with (or some say because) of the artificial restrictions imposed. Additionally, Jobs’ assertion that Flash hasn’t been optimized for touch rings true, as well. Adobe needs to really make sure the Android Flash experience is an amazing out-of-the-box experience because this could eventually condition mobile users to expect Flash on handsets.

[Via The Wall Street Journal]

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About The Author

Marin Perez

Marin Perez has torture tested cell phones and smartphones for industry leaders like CNET and InformationWeek. He remembers when 4G was just a screen on PowerPoint presentations and is fascinated with the amount of innovation out there. Marin has spent a lot of time with BlackBerry and Android but he finally broke down a bought an iPhone to see what all the hype's about. He also has too many tablets.

  • Charles

    Apple benefited from cross-platform tools in the past. That helped keep them alive. Now that they have a little power they want to lock all Developers into their tools and platform thinking they will become the mobile “Windows”?!?!?

    Maybe they forgot but Microsoft did it by being an open platform and for this reason Android, I believe, will continue to gain quickly on the iPhone OS and what can HP with WebOS bring along with Nokia?

    I think Apple may just be painting themselves into a corner. . . but they are making boatloads of cash so who really cares?

  • The Animaster

    Is it just me or does that photo of Adobe’s current CEO make you cringe as well~?