Apple teams up with Adobe for iPhone Flash at long last

With Android getting all Flash-ey, Apple's "Goldilocks" position on Flash -- the full Flash player is too hefty, Flash Lite is too weak -- seemed pretty untenable. Now Adobe CEO Shantanu Narayen has revealed that Apple and Adobe are "collaborating" on making Flash a reality on the iPhone, citing the technical challenge it presents. What's clear is that with all this work to do, it doesn't seem they're going the watered-down Flash Lite route, but we're trying not to hold our breath for a full-on, Hulu-friendly version that will finally help us get that Doogie Howser fix on the go. Naturally, there's no word on when this will hit.

[Via AppleInsider]

[Giga @ Jan 31st 2009 9:43PM]

About time!

[ossger @ Jan 31st 2009 9:45PM]

seriously

[KAIKAI @ Jan 31st 2009 9:46PM]

now just collaborate with yourselves and get the video camera
and mms :)

[KAIKAI @ Jan 31st 2009 9:47PM]

and copy and paste....

[Flashpoint @ Jan 31st 2009 9:50PM]

The best PDA ever gets takes the highest throne !

[KAIKAI @ Jan 31st 2009 9:56PM]

*cough* pda *cough*
suuuuurrrrreeeee

[nerdtalker @ Jan 31st 2009 10:04PM]

It's the pre-effect. Features and things which Apple promised with the iPhone which have never materialized are going to start coming out a lot faster now that they've got some serious competition breathing down their back.

Who knows, perhaps we'll even see copy paste.

[Eleazar @ Jan 31st 2009 10:17PM]

No we won't, Apple will somehow reinvent™ the copy&paste concept, it will automatically know what you want to copy and it will always do the right thing™ and all this because they don't want to come up with a relatively complex finger gesture.

[Andrew @ Jan 31st 2009 10:19PM]

I am glad Apple is holding out until Adobe can get it right for a mobile device but then again I was kinda hopping flash would just go away all together. Flash sites suck!

[ajmalzx @ Jan 31st 2009 10:20PM]

Damn it!! I was hoping they remained stone headed and continue snubbing adobe. It would give me a reason to switch. I guess with jobs out of commission and the imminent threat of Pre, finally supporting flash seems like a good idea. With almost a thousand dollars of mp3s and apps, apple got me in their death grip.

Oh, btw enough whining about copy/paste. Jailbreak your phone and install hClipboard.

[Why should I have all the fun? @ Jan 31st 2009 10:23PM]

WTF Adobe? Now I know why we don't have 64-bit flash: cuz you're dickin' with this. Nice priorities.

[larryryan0824 @ Jan 31st 2009 11:16PM]

They are definitely working with adobe now to remain over the Pre. Clippy for the jailbroken iPhone works really good, its in cydia.

[LiQuiD_FuSioN @ Jan 31st 2009 11:20PM]

Couldn't have said it better.

It's about damn time they put aside their petty differences and work something out.

Yessssss!

[Flashpoint @ Feb 1st 2009 12:09AM]

nerdtalker

While i'll agree that apple will start releasing new features in step with what the latest competition offers, I don't agree that its because of the Pre.

The Pre is just like any other Palm - it will seell a couple hundred thousand but, against the iPhone? FORGET IT.

Pre, Storm, Dare, Instinct, etc,etc,etc don't hold up against "iPhone".

The people out there buying iphones aren't computer geeks and aren't worried about proffessional tools such as data tethering or DiVx playback, etc. They buy it cause of the trend and cause of the name. Pre isn't going to threaten iPhone at all - and when iPhone finally gets on CDMA verizon and sprint, its going to corner the entire cellular market.


You can downrank me but face facts.

all other cellphone companies making touch screen phones use iphone as a benchmark and then they try to improve their product with features iphone doesn't have. But the OSX version iPhone runs can quickly be updated to accomodate those features (such as Google Street view on 2.1 which came after the G1 was released)

and if all else fails, EVERY SINGLE THING about the current iPhone OS can be completely rebuilt from the ground up, packaged, downloaded and the iphone can reboot as an entirely different looking, feeling phone. Jobs was right - its a leapfrog product that is lightyears ahead of the competition.

[iphonerulez @ Feb 1st 2009 12:28AM]

Winna and still champ by T.K.O.... The iPhone.

Once Palm goes out of business, there's only RIM and Nokia to vanquish once the next model iPhone is announced in June. I think Steve is saving up his energy for that special showing.

[Quix @ Feb 1st 2009 12:29AM]

"Flash sites suck!" - Andrew

Amen, brother. I'm not looking forward to trying to navigate some inane Flash-based website on my iPhone. :(

[JAmerican @ Feb 1st 2009 12:28AM]

Wait. You iCrackheads don't have Flash yet. I love SkyFire! I use Flash all the time :).

iLowRanked

[str1f3 @ Feb 1st 2009 12:31AM]

You're an idiot if you think this has anything to do with the pre. Adobe has working with apple for the past few months on this. Why don't you wait the pre comes out or better yet when it's held by someone other than a palm employee. If it was September, apple would have done it because of android. If it was December, it would be because of the storm. Jobs has always said that he wanted it on the iPhone but flash lite isn'nt full featured enough and flash for the desktop was too much of a resource hog.

[str1f3 @ Feb 1st 2009 12:33AM]

You're an idiot if you think this has anything to do with the pre. Adobe has working with apple for the past few months on this. Why don't you wait the pre comes out or better yet when it's held by someone other than a palm employee. If it was September, apple would have done it because of android. If it was December, it would be because of the storm. Jobs has always said that he wanted it on the iPhone but flash lite isn'nt full featured enough and flash for the desktop was too much of a resource hog.

[lanejasper69 @ Feb 1st 2009 12:39AM]

They kissed and made up??!!!! About time.....it does heal all wounds ....time that is. :-)

[CraigJ @ Feb 1st 2009 12:48AM]

As long as I can turn it off. I hate flash based sites (other than for videos). I hit a site that's primarily flash based, and I hit the back button.

I want copy and paste, sending multiple photos, and disk usage before this.

[silverblackvoid @ Feb 1st 2009 4:53AM]

@nerdtalker,

he he, well said man!

[haX0r @ Feb 1st 2009 7:02AM]

Apple = Now getting "Jiggy wit it"

[Mark Anderson @ Feb 1st 2009 8:24AM]

"EVERY SINGLE THING about the current iPhone OS can be completely rebuilt from the ground up, packaged, downloaded and the iphone can reboot as an entirely different looking, feeling phone."

And yet it doesn't. How odd.

Look, cut the rubbish. The iPhone is a good phone but it has its faults - it's too big and bulky for a start. In the US it's the dog's bollocks because you're cellphone market is awful but in Europe it's just one of quite a few good phones and, frankly, a bit 2008.

Fashions change - the hot phone of 2007 was the Nokia N95, the hot Phone of 2008 was the iPhone,the hot phone of 2009 will be something different.

[Patriks7 @ Feb 1st 2009 10:54AM]

I hate to say this, but I agree with most of the things Flashpoint says.

[Paul A. Chapel @ Feb 1st 2009 11:22AM]

Yeah, Flashpoint is right. The flash stuff has been in development since June, according to the sources I've read. So I don't think Apple is really reacting to the competition here. I actually think Apple has an advantage in ignoring what the competition is doing because the very things they left out, is exactly what kills battery life. So if all the competitors to the iPhone bring multi-tasking and full flash to their phones, thinking that this will kill the iPhone, it will actually backfire on them.

We've already seen this with G1. Battery life is the number 1 complaint with most people.

We've already seen this with the Storm. RIM tried to compete by giving the Storm a fake keyboard, but a lot of people don't like the big screen button.

So Apple made compromises on certain things and I think when people compare the phones, the iPhone will again come out on top. The compromises Apple made actually make sense with a mobile device.

[Decoy @ Feb 1st 2009 4:41PM]

@ "All Apple" Paul Chapel:

Copy paste murders battery life, huh?

[d840 @ Feb 2nd 2009 2:00AM]

Finally, this is the last thing that jailbroken iphones are missing

We already have multitasking (Backgrounder), task manager (Processes, requires SB settings), and Copy + Paste (Clippy), all of which are freely available through cydia. With flash, we'll finally be able to access the "Real Internet"™

[ckmba @ Feb 13th 2009 7:24AM]

Umm, all these reasons are WRONG, WRONG...and, WRONG.

It's not because the iPhone hardware can't handle flash and it's not because FlashLite sucks, even tho it does. It's because Steve Jobs wants FULL CONTROL over where you get the apps that you put on the iPhone, he wants you TO HAVE TO GET IT FROM...dah, dah dahhh, drum roll please....THE iPHONE APP STORE!!

APPLE FEARED THAT enabling Flash on the iPhone may eventually allow users to bypass THE iPHONE APP STORE to get their app fix. My guess is that when Flash finally does arrive on the iPhone, there will be some major restrictions on it preventing users from installing Flash AIR apps from regular sites. Other sites will have to setup shop at the THE iPHONE APP STORE so users can get them onto their iPhones.

[garrenteed @ Jan 31st 2009 9:44PM]

Oh shwing!

[Ridgecity @ Feb 1st 2009 1:24AM]

Great news, sounds like they managed to get it in there before Stevo comes back, those little rascals!

[ImaYam @ Feb 1st 2009 2:20AM]

now that they have competition from Palm, theyve rushed into this. soon the next gen iPhone will have "copy", and the next iphone after that will have "Paste"

[Andy TGD @ Feb 1st 2009 6:05AM]

"Oh shwing!"

Wow, I'm back in the 90s again. Feels like an episode of Lost. :)

[TitaniumMan @ Feb 1st 2009 1:16PM]

Some people seem to think that new features/improvements happen within a month in the tech industry.
Up next: Iphone 3.0 OS will be a response to the Pre. Because up until now, all Apple was doing was chilling out at 1 infinite loop.
M i rite?

[Konstantin @ Jan 31st 2009 9:45PM]

YES!!! Can't wait till they get this out the door. Of course, I think we will be waiting a while.

[Blastar @ Feb 1st 2009 2:51AM]

Not before they Patent it.
I bet they can patent my ass too and make me pay every time I fart.. did I say i-fart ?
I better be careful about what I am saying.

[damn im so emo @ Jan 31st 2009 9:47PM]

HULU on the iphone would be megakickass

[gtfo @ Jan 31st 2009 9:53PM]

Until ATT drops the hammer on your service citing the 5GB bandwidth cap.

[Sachin @ Jan 31st 2009 9:55PM]

Well, they could just make an AppStore app, you know. Although I think I read something about them saying it wasn't a priority.

[telepheedian @ Jan 31st 2009 11:54PM]

Well, doing that would kill their iTunes TV show purchase profit stream.

[notpeter @ Feb 1st 2009 1:33AM]

I have an iphone and a Nokia E61i. Guess which works with Hulu already...Oh and it works with either ATT packet data or Wifi, your choice. Any S60v3 phone with Flash Lite is enough for SkyFire (3rd party browser) to use Hulu.
http://get.skyfire.com/

So even if it was just Flash Lite, Hulu might work anyways.

[Michael Scrip @ Feb 1st 2009 12:30AM]

> "Well, doing that would kill their iTunes TV show purchase profit stream."

Well... I'd rather pay a subscription to a Mobile Hulu than pay $2 per episode on iTunes.

Seriously... $2 for something that's free over the air?

[Britboyj27 @ Feb 1st 2009 12:46AM]

@ gtfo - The iPhone doens't have a bandwidth cap, aircards do.

Jailbreak + PDAnet = Greatness.

[Ellianth @ Feb 1st 2009 12:55AM]

yeah cuz apple would totally want you to watch the shows on demand instead of buying them from the itunes store.

[fischju @ Feb 1st 2009 2:46AM]

It won't work. Hulu is just too intensive. On the OMAP3530 based Archos 5, videos run at half speed.

[gtfo @ Feb 1st 2009 11:56AM]

@Britboyj27
Are you kidding me?

"The parties agree that AT&T has the right to impose additional charges if you use more than 5 gigabytes in a month. Prior to the imposition of any additional charges, AT&T shall provide you with notice and you shall have the right to terminate your service."

via http://www.att.com/mediaterms via http://www.wireless.att.com/learn/articles-resources/iphone-terms.jsp

[Epsilon-Not @ Jan 31st 2009 9:47PM]

But, but, but, wait, they told me I didn't need Flash, that it sucked, and it would waste system resources, and Apple was in fact a genius for leaving it out! Has that suddenly changed? But the mighty Apple is always right!

[Samurai Jack @ Jan 31st 2009 10:28PM]

You don't need Flash, and it does suck. But companies do things that suck all the time. Even Apple from time to time.

Personally I don't need even more crappy ads soaking up my precious bandwidth--especially when I'm paying for the privilege.

[roach @ Feb 1st 2009 4:20PM]

Just like they said (Avertising) Intel CPU sucks until of course they started putting inside their machine. Now they say forget what we said Intel is like butter.

[John @ Feb 1st 2009 12:19AM]

See also: Office for Mac 2008