APPLE CLOSES DOOR ON ADOBE IN RECENT SHOCKING MOVE

If you have been keeping up on tech news, you would know that we are in the midst of a very ugly battle between Apple, Inc. and Adobe, the creator of the Flash programming platform. Recently, Apple handed down a new rule that iPhone and iPad applications must be “originally written” in C/C++/Objective-C. That means that developers cannot use the Adobe Flash software platform to create iPhone or iPad applications.

This is a bold and aggressive move on the part of Apple Inc. that tells us they want to remain 100% in control of their ecosystem. It slams the door in the face of the company who is responsible for two of Apple’s most popular software products that run on the Macintosh system, Adobe Illustrator and Adobe Photoshop.

Steve Jobs, CEO of Apple Inc., stated, “intermediate layers between the platform and the developer ultimately produces sub-standard apps and hinders the progress of the platform” in response to criticism of the company’s decision to not only ban Flash on its devices, but even as a tool for creating applications. Many of the developers using Flash claim to have spent thousands of hours on applications that will now be dead in the water with this ruling.

Adobe officials and many other critics of Apple claim that this move stifles creativity, and exercises unfair control over developers. But what is more important is the fact that this is a major step backwards for any type of settlement or collaboration to be reached between Adobe and Apple.

Rumors circulated in late 2009 that Apple was considering allowing Flashed-based applications for the iPhone while still preventing Flash to run in the Internet browser. But when Steve Jobs first presented the iPad to the public in March, we plainly saw during the demonstration that there was no plan to allow Flash to even run on the device. It was later stated, rather firmly, that Apple would not allow Adobe Flash to run on its new Internet device.

While HTML5 appears to be the next generation of video encoding for the web, Apple’s bold move may help to speed the process of encouraging website designers to make the transition from Flash to HTML5. But this process could take several years, and we can’t assume that Adobe will discontinue making improvements on its Flash product which could entice developers to continue using it.

What this all boils down to is the fact that the consumer will bear the brunt of this battle as two separate formats will continue to be developed for Internet content. Those in the market for smart phones and tablet devices will have to decide whether or not they want the best operating system and applications or ability to enjoy flash content on the net.

For now, consumers who desire having one standard platform to enjoy web content may not get their wish until the tech giants decide to settle their grudges. It’s either this, or wait until a new contender enters the market that knocks Apple off of it’s device dominance roost.

Carlton Flowers
Marketing Strategist

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