Flash video on iPhone with the Skyfire browser coming 11/4
If you've been craving an iPhone but you consider the lack of Adobe Flash video support on iOS devices as a dealbreaker, there's nothing standing in your way anymore.
At 9 AM ET on Thursday, November 4, the Skyfire browser will hit the App Store for US$2.99 and provide a way to watch Flash video on iPhone, iPad, and iPod touch. The app has been available on the Android platform, and was finally approved by Apple after a "rather rigorous review."
The app is a standalone WebKit browser for the iPhone (like iCab Mobile and others), with a key difference; when visiting a page with a Flash embed, a thumbnail appears that allows the content to be streamed to the device. The video is transcoded on Skyfire's servers and converted to HTML5. Flash games won't work due to the interactivity required, and Hulu has also blocked Skyfire to guarantee that users who want to watch the streaming TV service on the iPad have to continue to pay $10 per month for Hulu Plus.
Skyfire is sure to be popular on iOS devices, as it provides an viewing solution for the half of all Web video that is still Flash-only. The Android version of the app has sold over 1.5 million copies, so the new iOS version may well be a hit in the Apple App Store.
There's a video clip on the next page demonstrating how the app works.
[via AppleInsider and Download Squad]
