AfterDawn: News

iPhone to get Flash support, kind of

Adobe, just one day after announcing that full Flash support was headed to Android, webOS, Symbian, BlackBerry and WinMo, has announced that Flash will now be available, somewhat, on the Apple iPhone.

The Flash Player 10.1, which will work for all the other OS but not on the iPhone, is set to be released in January for Android and Symbian and March for other OS.

For iPhone however, the new Flash Professional CS5 will allow developers to create iPhone apps, using the new ActionScript3.



Says Adobe: “The new support for iPhone applications in the Flash Platform tooling will not allow iPhone users to browse web content built with Flash technology on iPhone, but it may allow developers to repackage existing web content as applications for iPhone if they choose to do so.”

You can read more here: Adobe iPhone Flash options

Written by: Andre Yoskowitz @ 6 Oct 2009 12:26

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• 7 comments

• Lothros

  I wonder how long before Apple decide to block it?

  6.10.2009 15:35 #1

• Josipher

  says Adobe: “The new support for iPhone applications in the Flash Platform tooling will not allow iPhone users to browse web content built with Flash technology on iPhone, but it may allow developers to repackage existing web content as applications for iPhone if they choose to do so.”
  notice the "may" mate..thats adobes opinion. for all we know (and we probably do) it wont happen at all

  6.10.2009 15:56 #2

• 5fdpfan

  Well I wasn't planning on purchasing an Iphone anyway, and this announcement pretty much finalizes the decision for me. There's no "good" excuse why a phone of that caliber can't support full flash. All the other smart phones apparently will. Obviously, the only reason Apple is doing this is to sell even more apps than they already have Well count me out cause I can do just fine without their billions of apps on of many current and soon to arrive, Iphone alternatives. the huge app store is the only thing Apple has over everybody else. But that won't be the case much longer once other app stores start popping up and become popular. Personally, I'm waiting for the HTC Leo to come out. If it's with AT^&T I'll be sntaching that baby up.

  6.10.2009 16:49 #3

• KillerBug

  Apple and AT&T are notorious for disabling features that everyone expects to be standard just to save a few bucks or sell more services/product. This is a new low, but hardly surprising (iPhone just got MMS, basic cell phones have had it standard for years).
  
  At this point, I wouldn't take an iPhone for free with a 1-year contract. The fact that they are still able to sell them for so much money plus a two-year contract with one of the worst cell companies on earth is downright insane. Proof that no one does research when buying.

  6.10.2009 22:54 #4

• SProdigy

  Originally posted by 5fdpfan: There's no "good" excuse why a phone of that caliber can't support full flash. All the other smart phones apparently will.Ugh. Everyone lashing at Apple (usually MS) but this time the finger pointing should be at Adobe. It's ADOBE'S FLASH that is a resource hog of the CPU and memory built into these smart phones, and they are scrambling to find a "cure" with their 10.1 plugin (see also Flash "Lite") because Adobe is well aware of the growing mobile browser base and that they could lose market share should a competing technology (ie. Silverlight) sneak in the backdoor with widespread mobile support.
  
  It's another case of Apple stating they won't bend for another software provider, but mark my words, Flash is going to start crashing mobile phones in the next 6 months if Adobe doesn't get their act together.

  6.10.2009 23:26 #5

• SProdigy

  Originally posted by KillerBug: The fact that they are still able to sell them for so much money plus a two-year contract with one of the worst cell companies on earth is downright insane. Proof that no one does research when buying.Do you mean an Apple recertified 3G 8gb for $50? Or $50 more for a new one? Maybe shell out the extra money for the 3GS, which is priced the same as the iPod Touch, but works as a phone and you don't need to pay for updates?
  
  The pricing is very competitive compared to launch, and still better than some of the other smartphone options out there. Considering the large installed base and massive developer support, the only phone anyone could possibly consider is a BlackBerry, and that's dependent on what you use it for, or if your company is already tied to a BB.
  
  Of course we can still call AT&T stupid for blocking MMS (which I believe is both dumb to block and dumb to pay for just to send pictures when you have a trillion other options to get pics off of your phone and send to friends) but I'd still take AT&T's coverage over Verizon anyday, and who on Earth would want T-Mobile or Sprint over AT&T or Verizon anyway? The phones AND coverage for those carriers is horrid!

  6.10.2009 23:35 #6

• akoli

  Still not swayed by the whole iphone fascination ....its a great looking phone and they have fixed a lot of the issues that have kept me away ... mms , copy n paste , although these should really have been in the first generation... I still think someone will go one better ... hopefully soon as contract is up in december and will need something then .... hopefully a decent HTC or Samsung's Latest iphone killer ...We shall see.

  8.10.2009 18:34 #7