NBC and Time Warner inform Apple they'll be sticking to Flash, thank you very much

When the iPad bandwagon was launched in late January, ABC and Netflix quickly jumped onboard with tailor-made apps, while CBS and others started transitioning their content to HTML5-compliant formats, all in the name of not being left behind by the revolution. As it turns out, however, some content providers will be letting this ride pass them by, at least for the moment. The New York Post today reports that big media heavyweights Time Warner and NBC Universal have turned their noses up at the iPad's high entry demands and will be sticking to what works:

Sources said several large media companies, including Time Warner and NBC Universal, told Apple they won't retool their extensive video libraries to accommodate the iPad, arguing that such a reformatting would be expensive and not worth it because Flash dominates the Web.

According to the NYP article, these conglomerates have been emboldened by the forthcoming arrival of competing tablets from the likes of Dell and HP, and will be seeking their fortunes in the mobile space atop Adobe's winged stallion of web domination that we commonly know as Flash. This is a decision sure to end in tears -- we just don't know who'll be doing the crying when it all shakes out.

[Jack Posted May 28th 2010 9:54AM]

@lidell

Flash is an inferior technology, just like floppy disks. I wouldn't bet on Apple supporting it on their mobile devices... ever.

[lidell Posted May 28th 2010 1:09PM]

@Jack Will have to wait and see, and how long they resist when Android, BlackBerry etc are running Flash. I will have my first play with the iPad this weekend - my friends initial comments were that it's beautiful and great fun but, where he can live without it on the iPhone, the lack of Flash and multitasking is more than irritating and that once the initial impact is over (about a week he reckons) it's more something for the kids to use. As he says - perhaps should have saved the £s and waited for the new iPhone as it's more useful.

[phearme Posted May 28th 2010 10:29AM]

^_^ you see fanboys here saying Flash is so crappy and they don't want it on their devices, but if Jobs changes his mind tomorrow and decides to put Flash back on track in Safari Mobile, believe me, those same people are gonna be so glad it's gonna make me puke.

[phearme Posted May 28th 2010 10:31AM]

...remind me of Copy n Paste on the iPhone, I remember when every apple fan was posting "who needs copy n paste ?" and "Copy n Paste shouldn't exist in the future..."
come one guys, get serious.

[rj7855 Posted May 28th 2010 11:20AM]

@phearme

And multi-tasking.... they didn´t need it (but wait when they upgraded to V4) and MMS.

[His Shadow Posted May 28th 2010 1:17PM]

@phearme Yes, invent a past that never occurred to score points today. Apple supporters were the ones crying the loudest for copy and paste.

[BeSublime Posted May 28th 2010 11:13AM]

Expensive...?

What costs are involved in transcoding even a large library of media? Paying a few guys to set up a queue and hit go + the energy of running the boxes + telling your (probably salaried) web team to write new embeds using (probably already in-use) user agent detection?

...and not worth it?

Hello? Remember us, your customers? iPad owners are people too.

[rj7855 Posted May 28th 2010 11:18AM]

@BeSublime

iPad owners are not "people too" they are "brainless job zombies"...

[enjourni Posted May 28th 2010 11:34AM]

@rj7855 envy is a bitch, ain't it?

[phogasmic Posted May 28th 2010 12:54PM]

We'll see who wins this battle.
Apple is moving 200,000 iPads a day meanwhile Tablets that support Flash aren't selling nearly as well. Once a family buys an iPad you can bet that most of their Internet Tv watching is going to be through it. If NBC and Time Warner think thats it ok to ignore those numbers because they are too lazy to convert their videos to H.264 more power too them. Apple is not going to capitulate on this one because they have the upper hand. iPad users can simply download NBC shows through iTunes or other less then legal means.

[ResidentEVO Posted May 28th 2010 6:40PM]

Apple bit off more than they can chew this time. They should have supported Flash. HTML5 may be the future, but in the meantime, why not allow iDevices to support Flash and give the user the OPTION to disable Flash if they don't like it? Why restrict a user's full web experience? Battery life? BS. If I want to kill my battery life, I should be able to do that -- it's not going to affect anyone else's battery life.

This reminds me of when Blu-ray won but all the HD-DVD fanboys were trying to argue that streaming video was the future. Yes, everyone knows it's the future, but our networks are still a ways off from streaming Full 1080p HD and DTS-HD 7.1 MA. In the meantime, why miss out on all those features that Blu-ray currently supports?

[Wesscoast Posted May 28th 2010 9:59PM]

@ResidentEVO

Who cares?
You said it yourself, HTML5's the future.

The PC guys took about 10 years too long to get rid of floppy disks...Eating Apple's dust.

You'll eat Apple's dust on this one too. See you in 2020

[ResidentEVO Posted May 28th 2010 10:17PM]

@Wesscoast

Wrong. I'll be enjoying the FULL web experience with Flash on my soon to be EVO 4G. When and IF Apple manages to get the entire web converted to HTML5, I'll purchase an iPad. In the meantime, enjoy your restricted web experience for 10 years.

[carlover Posted May 28th 2010 10:47PM]

apple is basically marketing android ( the big G). Jobs cant even see what he is doing so smart yet so...