The war of words between Apple and Adobe over the former’s resolve to never to let Flash on its devices has taken a new turn now. Apple is all set to launch Gianduia, which is a substitute for Adobe Flash and Microsoft Silverlight platforms, on its mobile devices. Apple had stated earlier that it would rather go for HTML5, JavaScript and CSS. Apple unveiled Gianduia at World of WebObjects Developer Conference, describing it as a client-side, standards-based framework for Rich Internet Apps to create quality online apps for its retail users.

If you think that Gianduia is a new thing, you are in for a surprise as this technology is already in use in its retail support applications such as One to One program, iPhone reservation system and Concierge program for Genius Bar and Personal Shopping reservations.

Apple CEO Steve Jobs had stated his opposition for Flash on Apple devices because it is “a closed system” and that Apple would support only open web standards. He further stated, “We know from painful experience that letting a third-party layer of software come between the platform and the developer ultimately results in substandard apps, and hinders the enhancement and progress of the platform.” Will Gianduia will be a Flash-killer? Only time will tell.

Resource:
http://www.techtree.com/India/News/Apple_Gianduia_to_Substitute_Flash/551-111098-580.html

Adobe confirmed Thursday that it plans to demonstrate a version of Flash for Google’s Android software in May at the Google I/O conference, in responding to Apple CEO Steve Jobs’ criticism of Flash in an open letter. And the company wants to make sure its employees use those phones: it’s preparing to give away Android phones running Flash to employees, according to three sources familiar with the plan.

It’s not clear which phone employees will receive (various HTC phones and the Nexus One were mentioned) and it will not be a mandatory shift. But in the time-honored technology industry practice of “dog-fooding” one’s own products, Adobe and Google want to encourage Adobe employees to spend as much time using Android and the Flash Player 10.1 as possible.

Google gives away Android phones like they are party favors: it’s planning to give every Google I/O attendee their choice of a Motorola Droid or Nexus One, and it gave away Nexus Ones to an audience of CIOs earlier this month at an event for Google Apps.

It’s also not clear if this will be a perk just for developers or for the entire company: Adobe had about 8,600 employees worldwide at the end of last November. The company did not respond to a request for comment about its plans

Resource:
http://news.cnet.com/8301-1035_3-20003922-94.html

In an interview with the New York Times, VP of Engineering at Google Andy Rubin confirmed that Android 2.2 (or Froyo to its friends) will be packing the extra support.

What’s not clear is whether this will be the Flash 10.1 we’ve been hearing so much about for Android – which would mean a delay for the upgrade

Waiting, waiting…

We’re still waiting to hear about a release date for the new Froyo upgrade (which we still know very little about) but given Adobe has said that Flash 10.1 won’t be coming until later in the year, if it was part of Android 2.2 then we’re in for a bit of a wait.

Of course, there’s always the argument that constant updates are fragmenting the market, with issues like HTC Hero owners being forced to wait a year to be brought up to speed with latest Android version.

So perhaps leaving Froyo in the wilderness will help the market catch up – or at least give us long enough to get bored of playing with Live Wallpapers and want to find something else to waste time on.

Resource:
http://www.techradar.com/news/phone-and-communications/mobile-phones/android-2-2-coming-with-flash-as-standard-686083

Though Safari and other Apple software, such as Mac OS X, will continue to support Flash technology, developers which create Flash content will not be able to port it to the newly released iPad, and existing or future iPhone’s.

The iPad lacked Flash when it was initially released, but it was hoped and expected that Adobe would throw its cards on the table and attempt, at best, to release a version of Flash for these devices.

As the BBC point out, Creative Suite 5 released last month enabled developers to convert Flash code into iPhone applications. However Apple’s developer terms and conditions change caused controversy amongst developers by limiting their scope of application function, and effectively banning them from using code translators such as CS5.

When considering mobile entrepreneurs and Generation Y developers a month and a bit ago, I knew and still know how powerful the mobile market is. Yet as Flash technology is an integral part of the Web and application power, regardless of whether HTML5 will negate the need for using the plug-in, it is also a major part of modern technology and creative design degree programmes.

All students from various countries and institutions who study programmes in multimedia design, electronics and computer science engage with Flash and Adobe technology, and passing code and design implementation is vital to their expansion of knowledge and portfolio building.

Not only will this move damage the reputation of Apple and developers as such, but harm the potential of younger developers exploiting the easy-to-use platform and knowledge base to generate revenue and self publicity.

Silverlight is thought to be released for the iPad, and therefore presumably the iPhone and iPod touch devices too; though at this point it is not clear when or whether the negotiations will yield any result.

Will this have a significant knock-on effect to not only Apple developers but consumers also? Could this signal a shift from the almighty iPhone to Android or BlackBerry devices? Or will HTML5 completely trump all arguments and be a much needed shift from Apple and Adobe dominance on the web ?

Resource:
http://blogs.zdnet.com/igeneration/?p=4740

Besides declining to work with Adobe to bring Flash to the iPhone OS, Apple has recently changed the Terms of Service for the iPhone SDK to disallow development with unauthorized tools like Adobe’s new Creative Studio 5.

Earlier this week Adobe’s Mike Chambers indicated that due to the new restrictions in the iPhone SDK TOS, Adobe won’t contine development of tools to create iPhone apps in Flash CS5. Chambers wrote that Apple wants to “make it difficult for developers to target other platforms.”

Apple spokeswoman Trudy Muller shot back in a statement pointing out that the iPhone OS supports common open standards like HTML5, CSS, Javascript and H.264, calling Flash “closed and proprietary.”

But does support for open standards actually make the iPhone OS itself open? After all, Flash also supports H.264, but as Muller correctly points out that doesn’t stop it from being closed.

Does Apple’s decision to restrict development tools and methods really have anything to do with openness? It seems unlikely.

Apple’s own approach, the iPhone SDK, is proprietary and closed as well and gives Apple control all the way through distribution to consumers.

In response to an email from an OS X developer critical of the new SDK TOS, Steve Jobs recently outlined a more believable, if not entirely accurate, rationale.

Jobs wrote, “intermediate layers between the platform and the developer ultimately produces sub-standard apps and hinders the progress of the platform.”

The problem with this argument is that using non-Apple sanctioned (ie controlled) development tools isn’t an indication of poor quality any more than using the official tools improves it. Ultimately quality is in the developer’s hands.

As to hindering progress, that’s only true if you define platform as the iPhone SDK, rather than the iPhone, iPod Touch, iPad or even iPhone OS itself. In reality app development on these platform is limited by the iPhone SDK

Their capabilities could be exploited to come up with even more innovative apps by third parties if not for Apple’s obstruction.

It’s hard to believe that Apple’s reliance on DMCA anti-circumvention language and restrictive language in SDK agreements with developers is either open or conducive to progress. Both are artificial barriers to the creative process of developing software.

Even harder to believe is that Apple is oblivious to the growing government interest in various aspects of the iPhone business, including the app approval process.

Apple is already involved in various iPhone related patent lawuits against companies including prominent Android phone vendor HTC and worldwide mobile phone (and smartphone) industry leader Nokia. Federal investigators have already gotten involved in the Nokia dispute.

If Adobe ends up filing a lawsuit against Apple, which seems to be the rumor or speculation du jour every day, it would certainly lead to more pressure on Congress and federal regulators.

There’s no doubt Apple’s decision to outlaw converted Flash apps from the App Store will have a negative impact on Adobe, particularly with their new CS5 software having just been released. Some have argued that the reason for Apple’s oddly timed introduction of the next iPhone OS to developers was intended to coincide with Adobe’s CS5 launch.

The ability to convert Flash projects to iPhone apps has been touted as a major selling point for months, and with good reason given the number of App Store downloads. However that doesn’t automatically make what Apple is doing illegal.

Which may explain why there’s been no lawsuit from Adobe yet. The only grounds for forcing Apple to open the iPhone OS to third party application frameworks would seem to be an antitrust claim.

The iPhone, successful as it has been, hasn’t made Apple the number 1 mobile phone or even smartphone vendor in the US. Those titles belong to Motorola and Research In Motion (RIM) respectively.

Without a dominant market position Apple certainly can’t hold a monopoly so any antitrust complaint seems doomed.

However there still might be an alternative solution for Adobe and other companies who want to develop software for the iPhone without Apple’s blessing. They could throw support behind the Electronic Frontier Foundation (EFF) effort to get a DMCA exemption for smartphone jailbreaking.

Such an exemption would allow Adobe, Microsoft, Sun or any other application framework provider the chance to extend their architecture to the iPhone by piggybacking on consumer rights.

Resource:
http://www.afterdawn.com/news/article.cfm/2010/04/23/apple_rep_says_iphone_os_is_open_while_flash_is_closed_and_proprietary

Adobe on Tuesday evening said it is ceasing investment in a software tool that enables Flash developers to port software into native iPhone and iPad apps, according to Mike Chambers, Adobe’s principal product manager for Flash developer relations.

“The primary goal of Flash has always been to enable cross-browser, platform and device development,” Chambers wrote in a blog post. “This is the exact opposite of what Apple wants. They want to tie developers down to their platform, and restrict their options to make it difficult for developers to target other platforms.”

Adobe is reacting to a new rule in the iPhone developer agreement, which stipulates that iPhone and iPad apps must be coded with Apple-approved programming languages, such as C++ or Objective C. If enforced, the rule would effectively ban any apps coded with Adobe’s Packager for iPhone, a tool enabling Flash-coded software to be easily converted into native iPhone apps, released last week with Adobe CS5.

Faced with Apple’s new rule, Adobe pulled the plug on Packager for iPhone. That ends, for now, any hope that Flash apps (or apps that incorporate Flash) will ever be able to run on the iPad or iPhone.

Apple’s new app policy has been met with furious debate. Critics say Apple is depriving consumers of choice, because Flash apps that could have been on the iPhone will never see the light of day. Supporters of Apple’s decision, including Steve Jobs, say the move was necessary to retain quality of apps in the App Store and nimbleness of updating the platform.

Apple has been steadfast with its lack of support for Flash on the iPhone OS. Some customers have complained that without Flash, iPhone and iPad users are missing out on a big chunk of the internet. Jobs said during a staff meeting that Flash was not supported because it is “buggy” and frequently causes crashes on the Mac OS, according to a secondhand account first reported by Wired.com.

Rather than supporting Flash, Apple has reportedly pushed website creators to use alternative web standards, including HTML5, CSS and JavaScript, which are all supported by the iPhone and iPad browser.

Apple said Adobe was incorrect to accuse Apple of locking in developers by not supporting Flash.

“Someone has it backwards — it is HTML5, CSS, JavaScript and H.264 (all supported by the iPhone and iPad) that are open and standard, while Adobe’s Flash is closed and proprietary,” an Apple representative said in a statement provided to CNET.

However, as simple as it may sound for web developers to switch to different standards, Wired.com’s Webmonkey editor Mike Calore said the transition to HTML5 for video playback would be complex. He explained that there’s no agreed upon video format for HTML5, and support varies greatly from browser to browser.

“Not to be overly critical of Apple — anyone pushing for open web standards deserves kudos — but the company seems more deeply concerned with digging Flash’s grave than it does with promoting semantic markup,” Calore wrote.

Resource:
http://www.wired.com/gadgetlab/2010/04/adobe-flash-iphone/

The vast majority of Internet sites use it to display Flash video and other multimedia content. In addition, Flash is a convenient platform for application development. The main trouble for it today is to dislike Apple chief Steve Jobs, for which the technology is not supported by Adobe nor the iPhone, nor the iPad – and this is a significant part of the market.

A couple of years ago make sense to implement support for Flash in the smartphone was not – the majority of power devices for normal mapping would not be enough. But today the situation is quite different, smartphones and Internet tablets with gigahertz processors and graphics accelerators, the individual coping with Flash-graphics with a bang.

The fact that the development of Flash for Android entered the stage of debugging, and is about to be declared a set of all comers in a series of beta testers, said the chief ideologist of the platform from Adobe Li Braymelou. According to him, users Android-smartphone after the implementation of them is waiting for Flash support “a lot of exciting, the possibility of devices markedly improved.

Register to participate in a public beta Flash-player for Android can be on the official website of the company.

Resource:
http://it-chuiko.com/internet/3416-adobe-is-tesing-flash-for-android.html

Adobe has announced that its Flash 10.1 player will not arrive for Android, WebOS and BlackBerry devices until the second half of 2010.

Revealed In an interview with Fox Business News to talk up Creative Suite 5, Adobe CEO Shantanu Narayen confirmed that the latest Flash update would now be moved to later in the year having initially been pencilled in for a release in the first half of 2010.

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That means that Android tablet devices such as the WePad which are expected to support Flash, will now receive a launch date nearer to the arrival of the Flash 10.1 Player.

One possible reason for delay arrives courtesy of The Flash Blog where Adobe’s Lee Brimelow revealed that private beta versions of Flash Player 10.1 for Android were now available. Developers can now also sign up to be notifed when the public version is available.

In the continuing Adobe versus Apple debate Nayaren also commented on Apple’s decision not to include Flash on the iPad saying that a flash-less iPad, “hurts consumers” and will ultimately be judged by people voting “for the experience that they want through their wallet.” We fully anticipate an Apple response in the not so distant future.

Resource:
http://www.t3.com/news/flash-10-1-player-delay-for-android-tablets?=44799