Vertex Interactive

Why Apple Won’t Support Flash?

// February 2nd, 2010 // Technology

The reason for that comes down to Apple’s design philosophy, and their business model. Using an iPod, iPhone, or iPad is meant to be a carefully crafted experience. As Steve Jobs told Newsweek in 2007, “You don’t want your phone to be an open platform. You need it to work when you need it to work.” And apparently the same goes for your tablet.

The iPad launch served as a sore reminder that, yeah, if you buy one of these, you better be ready to say goodbye to a big chunk of the internet. But Apple isn’t sad to see it go. According to Wired, Steve Jobs reportedly called Adobe “lazy” at an Apple employee event, and then went on to explain the company’s position: “Apple does not support Flash because it is so buggy. Whenever a Mac crashes more often than not it’s because of Flash. No one will be using Flash. The world is moving to HTML5.”

Adobe fired back, saying, “iPad users will not be able to access the full range of web content, including over 70% of games and 75% of video on the web. If I want to use the iPad to connect to Disney, Hulu, Miniclip, Farmville, ESPN, Kongregate, or JibJab not to mention the millions of other sites on the web I’ll be out of luck.”

HTML5 is being embraced by both Apple and Google as an alternative to Flash, and the future of the internet, but full implementation is still years away. Can Apple, or more importantly Apple’s customers, afford to be Flash-less until then, or is this an opportunity for Apple’s competitors to move in?