Adobe has brought Flash to the iPhone, at least for standalone apps, without any help from Apple – after Steve Jobs famously declared last spring that Flash ran too slowly to be usable on the iPhone.
Adobe CTO Kevin Lynch mocked the situation at the MAX conference in a MythHackers video skit with Adobe senior VP Johnny Loiacono.
Lynch read out a letter from "Steve in Cupertino", saying "it's not possible to run Flash on the iPhone" and the pair then proceeded to test the myth using a blender, high voltage, a steamroller, high explosives and finally the Adobe engineering team – before showing off standalone Flash apps running on the iPhone.
Flash Product Marketing Manager Adrian Ludwig contrasted Apple's lack of co-operation with the other smartphone companies who have joined Adobe's Open Screen project: "With all the other partners we're working with, we're getting very strong support in getting hardware level co-operation to get the performance and playback on these devices."
NO FLASH: I don't believe it; the lack of Flash puzzles the Adobe MythHackers
Although he admitted that "there's also some hardware work that would be required to get the performance that people expect", he claimed the main problem was not performance but licensing and access.
"Just-in-time compilation is specifically forbidden in Apple licences and there's a restriction on runtime interpretation of code. And in order to run in the browser, we need Apple to support the APIs," said Ludwig.
"We need Apple's co-operation to integrate Flash in Safari," Ludwig added, "and we hope we can do that over time."
HERE GOES: The first attempt to integrate Flash with the iPhone; will it blend?
He emphasised end-user desire for Flash: "We see about 3 million users of iPhones visit adobe.com and request the Flash player on a monthly basis".
But CTO Lynch delivered a subtle warning that Apple is no longer the only smartphone game in town: "The smartphone space is going to become quite diverse; there are going to be a lot of excellent operating systems."
FLASH ON IPHONE: A Flash game – running on the iPhone
Lynch also suggested Apple can't afford to repeat past mistakes by being too proprietary. "It's like the early days of PC computing; people who are playing well with others are those who are going to get the bigger share. The Mac introduced the mouse into the mainstream but it didn't get the share of the marketplace. Windows came along and got a lot of share, mainly by playing well with others. It's like watching the movie again and interestingly it's many of the same players."
Watch the full skit below:
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Your comments (15) Click to add a new comment
mrvatican
November 28th 2009
15. lol at least Windows can run Flash properly.
This **** is hilarious!
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nicolasmerritt
October 9th 2009
14. Not at all. Disagree away, as vociferously as you like. But do it with some style, please...
Fuller guidelines here: http://www.techradar.com/forum/showthread.php?t=7095
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benbrown
October 9th 2009
13. So on this site you just delete the accounts of anyone who disagrees with you? Brilliant.
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lovlid
October 9th 2009
12. Cheers Nick.
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nicolasmerritt
October 9th 2009
11. I've deleted jimsmith's comments, and in light of the last one, deleted his account.
Nick,
Editor in chief
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lovlid
October 9th 2009
10. @ jimsmith.
Wow, you really are a piece of work. Are you really an ambassador for mac users everywhere?....er no. You can tell by the the way not ONE mac user over the age of twelve has come to your help and defended your point of view. Oh wait, you don't have a point of view. You just keep repeating yourself, over and over. "PCs are ****, you've got a virus,,,ner, ner, ner" Not very mature is it? Just embarrassing.
If any moderators are reading this, please look at the highly offensive words this vile little person uses in post 12 and kick him off site.
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boybunny
October 9th 2009
9. @ jimsmith
I do hope a moderator will censure you for doing nothing more than insulting anyone who does not chose to use your brand of hardware.
It is very obvious to me that you have never used a Windows machine, as all your rhetoric is the phony trash spouted by the average ignorant Mac user. You have no substance at all, and obviously have a very tenuous grasp on reality, if any at all. Windows is not vulnerable if you know what you are doing. The fun thing is that XP64 and W7 seem to have cured most of the security problems by default during my time in the Apple wilderness.
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boybunny
October 9th 2009
8. @ jimsmith
I will take your pathetic attacks one at a time.
I had to reformat EVERY Mac I owned once a year... sounds bad, but it gets worse. Every machine would EAT one HDD every 12 months on average, which meant I got VERY good at installing my own HDDs in my faulty (DOA in most cases) Macs. OSX it seems EATS HDDs, but mac fanatics try to destroy the reputation of anyone who complains about shameful Apple secrets... actually going to extreme real world degrees to try to silence Apples critics. I know this from personal experience.
I have my own security system, and I can say that unless someone takes physical ownership of any of my new PCs, they will find it actually impossible to add any spyware/keyloggers or any other type of Trojan, virus etc. All you need is a modest amount of intelligence (something your average Mac Fanatic does not posses).
Which brings us to your next point. I do know that most Mac Fanatics believe with all their might that they have no problems. When their machine runs slowly it is IBMs fault, or Intels fault, or something that Apple will fix within minutes... maybe a few minutes later... well maybe next week... well I bet Apple is working on it, and it will be their top priority. The reality is that after dealing with a gaggle or two of Mac Fanatics over the past decade, I know that not one of them has the intelligence to even realize that they HAVE a problem in 99.9% of all cases. Oh, yes, and ALL Mac Fanatics claim that ayone who complains is just not smart enough to use Macs... interesting, that YOU yourself forgot to stick to the propaganda line and complained about the crappy speed you got on your Macs... oh and all Mac Fanatics forget that they claim that Apple machines are "The Easiest computers in the world to use"... How DOES "Easiest to use" work with "You are not smart enough to use a Mac"? Not to mention that I can build and set up a Windows machine in ways that OSX would never let you, and manage said machine with absolutely no glitches for years.
Your last comment is just a pathetic cry to mummy... I was wealthy enough to buy FIVE Macs in ten years... I gave OSX and Apples crappy hardware a decade to impress me, and you know what? Apples trash sucks! That IS an educated opinion you will hear more and more as the recent switchers lose patience with their trashy machines and zero OS options. They will switch back, and they will spread the word... the honest truth.
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jimsmith
October 9th 2009
7. Yeah, you WIndoze morons tell yourselves whatever you have to as you re-format your crappy PC yet again and scan your beige boxes for keyloggers and trojans. Again.
Funny, practically everyone I know uses Macs and nobody has any problems with them. Perhaps you are idiots, have you considered that?
It's hilarious the stuff the Microshaft fanboys will make up in order to avoid facing up to the reality that they're too stupid or too poor, or both, to just use their brains for once and buy a Mac.
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boybunny
October 9th 2009
6. @ jimsmith
I second the crying for mommy comment.
Strange, I have just switched back to wonderful windows after five pretty crappy macs... the macs are the things that generally did not work... Adobe software always seemed to work wonderfully, unlike Apples **** ****e they call an OS and application suite.
Oh, and you contradict yourself. You claim that "At least their stuff works" referring to Apple hardware. I would disagree strongly, and so do you apparently... let me say it in your own words... "Considering how appallingly slowly Flash runs on a top end G5 and pretty badly on a maxxed-out MacBook" ... well the software ran without complaint on my Macs as slow as 1GHz G4... your machines seem rather broken and useless. Not to mention that Flash runs like the wind on EXACTLY the same hardware as your Macbook while running on the superior Windows system.
You said it, I did not... now are you going to call YOURSELF a liar?!
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lovlid
October 9th 2009
5. @ jimsmith.
Oh dear, another fanboy crying to mummy. And which company, I wonder, is making more money?....hmm.
By the way, two desktops and a laptop, no virus issues, not for a long time. Probably because I use the same security software a lot of mac users have.
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bdn
October 9th 2009
4. That would be because virus creators don't bother creating virus' for the 5 people using mac os.
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jimsmith
October 8th 2009
3. Imagine that "lovlid", a company that's out to make money. Who's ever heard of something like that happening?
At least their stuff works. Go back to your virus-ridden PC.
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lovlid
October 8th 2009
2. "Steve Jobs doesn't know what the iPhone can do"
Should read "Steve Jobs wont tell you what the iphone can do, until they've figured out how to make you pay for it."
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jimsmith
October 8th 2009
1. Considering how appallingly slowly Flash runs on a top end G5 and pretty badly on a maxxed-out MacBook, I think they should spend less time dicking around with blenders and more time trying to optimize their god awful software.
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