Adobe says iPhone / iPad adoption and 'alternative technologies' (cough, HTML5) could harm its business
By Nilay Patel 
posted April 9th 2010 11:50AM
posted April 9th 2010 11:50AM
Now, Adobe has to make doom-and-gloom statements in its SEC filings -- it also says that slowing PC sales or a failure to keep up with desktop OS development could harm its business -- but the timing is crazy here, since just yesterday Apple changed the iPhone OS 4 SDK agreement to block devs from using the upcoming Flash CS5 iPhone cross-compiler to build iPhone apps. What's more, Apple's also using HTML5 for its new iAd platform, which could potentially undo Flash's stranglehold on online advertising as well. Yeah, we'd say all that plus the recent push for HTML5 video across the web -- and from Microsoft -- could harm Adobe's business just a little. Better hope that final version of Flash Player 10.1 is everything we'd hoped and dreamed of, because Adobe's going to have to make a real stand here.
Good riddence, honestly.
@crawdad689
Or maybe precursors to antitrust? :)
@crawdad689
Adobe- Please announce the withholding of all new OS X software from this day forward.
I feel like, whenever Apple wants to bully a company, no matter how powerful that other company might be, they just sit back and take it. I want to see some FIGHT from Adobe, not just "yea they might hurt our profits."
@crawdad689 Isn't this similar to Microsoft Windows and the whole MSIE thing?
@crawdad689
Yep. Bye bye flash.
@Ipadkiller
true but this "robust" costs a lot of performance which leads to no major positive aspect
@Ipadkiller
Here's a fact - my core i5 computer sounds like a freakin' jet engine as soon as I play youtube full screen. Even if it's just a 360p stream!
I guess the obvious option is to force the most casual of users to buy the most powerful of chips, right?
Most people don't care about "robust". They just want to watch video on their laptop without burning their thighs!!!
@donv69
Whats MSIE ? LOL
Never heard of and I dont intend to know about if youre already talking it down like that lol
@Ipadkiller with a name like iPadkiller you expect us to take your opinion seriously?
@who said what What antitrust?
@kiyu727 MSIE = Microsoft Internet Explorer
@Chizzed
LOL even Adobe said Flash 10.1 is a temporary fix until HTML5 is widely adopted.
@Ipadkiller
Here's a fact: that's strictly your opinion.
Here's my opinion: Adobe can go straight to hell with Flash.
I miss Macromedia. :(
How is Adobe gonna die from Flash being out-moded; have you all forgot about the rest of CS? (Aren't icons for numerous apps made from Illustrator?)
@crawdad689: I hate companies that start with the letter 'A'.
@crawdad689
you're doing something wrong
my single core atom can handle full screen 720p youtube with silence.
@FrancisL4D Or douche-bag CEOs named "Steve" (be they sweaty fatties or Skeletor standins). =p
@Chizzed: Yeah, that's smart. That'll only increase the speed at which Flash is ultimately replaced by "alternative technology".
The fact that Flash hasn't done anything new since, well, forever it's only natural that something easier and more innovative come into the market to challenge it.
@incredibilistic
Oh yeah they haven't done anything new...except pretty soon flash will be working on android, symbian, webos, and there will be gpu acceleration as well...yeah they are so far behind!!
@crawdad689
Not really. Abode has one option, better their product to compete, or die. Competition is good for us, it mean HTML5 and Flash will both keep getting better until one wins. (or both stay and have their own sets of raving fanboys)
Its how this industry works.
@crawdad689
Agreed! I know engadget readers tend to hate apple, but flash has always been a buggy, resource hogging, pos of a plugin.
Flash needs to die fast, no matter what platform you like. HTML5 is the future.
@who said what NO! No one wants flash. Microsoft, Google, Apple all have alternatives that they will be using. Flash has served it's purpose and it's time to move on.
@crawdad689
Your computer sucks. My 3-year-old Thinkpad plays 720p without a single hiccup.
@crawdad689
BOTH HTML5 and Flash use the same cpu usage so stop lying you Apple fanboy moron
@kiden kinda hard to compete when the platform owner and absolute controller won't let you be installed on their platform. . .
THAT, boys and girls, is the problem.
Granted, Flash sux - bloated, intrusive, and slow. However, if they want to compete in the marketplace, it's not (NOT) Apple's place to say that they cannot. . .
@Chizzed
except apple would probably welcome no flash on OS X. This way they could be rid of it, and let adobe take the heat for them.
@crawdad689
Any chance we can get rid of that other proprietary video playback program no one needs constantly updating (and auto installing Safari and iTunes), stealing CPU power instead of using GPU.............QUICKTIME!
I hope Lord Steve is replacing QT with HTML5 too.
@crawdad689 An i5 overheating due to flash?
@crawdad689
Spot on with this comment.
It's not like there is a market for people who spend $300+ on a video card that provides a more "robust" viewing experience with gaming. Or a market for people who spend $1000's of dollars on TV's simply because they want 1080p quality.
Most people just want to get back to the days of CompuServe and text ads. The days of all efficiency and no eye candy are here. After all, technology is cyclical.
@N900 yeah I don't know if I'm buying that clam. It probably has less to do with flash and more to do with that porn he downloaded
@Chizzed
lol Adobe has to support mac. most professional design happens on the mac. Dropping mac support would cripple adobes earnings. truth is adobe has a lot of work to do on flash. As a flash/web designer and developer I can attest to just how shitty it can be working in flash.
I love what I see happening with HTML 5. Sure its not as robust as flash but the potential is there. Plus the majority of flash we see on the web can easily be duplicated with jquery or some other JS library right now. What html 5 brings to the plate is in conjunction with css and JS libraries out there now is significant.
I can tell you from being in the trenches.. Things that were once a no brainer to do in flash are now questioned and examined to see if it can be accomplished using HTML/CSS/JS. In the past year 70% of the time we have passed on flash and executed the same concept without it.
Adobe has problems... despite what any mouth piece comments HTML 5 is a good thing and will have a big impact on flash and silver light.
@Chizzed
It's funny but i get the feeling that apple waited for adobe to sort out a osx mac/iphone version that would work well, and waited and waited, until it finally decided to go with the open html5 route. I would love to see adobe fight and make flash decent enough to be on a mobile and not a resource hog, but i think it has left this fighting to right at the last minute... and a little too late.
@jdm28690
A while a go I did a quick test and watched the same Youtube video in Flash and HTML5. Lo and behold, HTML5 video used twice as much CPU power as Flash...
@Ipadkiller Maybe a little ... as of now.. but we need open standards. Flash is proprietary... owned by a single company. HTML 5 is not. End of story.
@Chizzed If they do that, they will surely go bankrupt in a couple of hours.
@Edobe I don't think it's pr0n either. The core i5 processor multi-threads to handle intensive heavy CPU processes, and auto-clocks to suit this and maintain a normal cooling level; like the i7, but it's certainly cooler than one. For instance, compare a Studio 1558 to a 1557. The i5 takes a much cooler level than the i7 counter-part. I haven't heard of it overheating unless there was either a problem with the laptop or the user was running MANY apps.
@Ipadkiller And thousands times more laggy and CPU heavy.
@crawdad689
This better not fuck with my Photoshop and Aftereffects CS5 wishes!
@who said what I'd say this is clearly a precursor to an anti-trust suit. Basically, buy signaling bad news to its investors, Adobe is documenting the harm that Apple's anti-competitive practice is doing to their business. I do see this at least getting consideration from FTC or DOJ.
What's interesting here is that Apple doesn't have a monopoly over web browsing by any means, but are disrupting competition because technology standards are so important to developers. Bare in mind that the FTC has sued over much smaller issues concerning tech standards. By refusing to allow Flash development on their platform, they may in essence halt all development for Flash because it's unreliable. So, you can make the case that Apple is monopolizing the market, even if they don't have 100% customer base.
@who said what
Thanks to Flash, I viewed the Masters on my Netbook. Try than on an iPad!
@crawdad689 To all those that think HTML 5 is SOOOO much better than flash, just check out the comparison...
http://vimeo.com/10553088
@Ipadkiller it just bothers me when people get onto apple about not supporting open source and when they finally do, people yell at them again.
no, Adobe, the real threat is your own ineptitude in taking forever to release mobile flash.
Why is it not out yet? Until then, QFT.
@crawdad689
THANK YOU. Who cares!? Once all of the porn sites have transitioned over to HTML5 video, Flash is DEAD. Aye, good riddance.
@superflat I don't get your point? How are they disrupting competition?
@ZooKristaps
You did something wrong. I have repeatedly tested it and a Youtube video that takes 90% cpu time in flash only takes 20% in HTML5. I'm not alone in this experience either.
@MacBandit
that's because your using MacOSX lol. Both flash and HTML5 takes like 23% of my 2 years old core 2 duo 2ghz not to mention Flash sometimes uses less power in higher frames. maybe if Apple allows Adobe to take full access of OSX then they can code a better platform to interact with OSX.
Whats with all the anti-trust nonsense...there is a big difference in what happened with MS and IE and Apples situation with its handhelds. Apple isn't forcing HTML 5 on other manufacturers devices...just their own, they make the software and the hardware. It would be the same as saying Nintendo should be charged in an anti-trust suit for not allowing anyone to publish their own games and cartridges without Nintendos involvement.
@crawdad689 My crappy c2d handles utube 1080p with silence. I think you've been duped.
@who said what
People are failing to see the bigger picture here... the argument is not really about processors being bogged down by clunky inefficient software but about how apple wants to change the status quo online so that flash loses dominance and people move away to other platforms which will diminish the amount of free content consumption online and apple will CAPITALIZE and force people to buy content ie games/ video. The argument about flash being inefficient is a distraction for the fanboys to waste there time. Apple wants to. Redistribute power for media and adds so that they have a chance against Google and so that they can push their profit margins further into the green.