Steve Jobs Take on Adobe Flash
Seems like the Apple vs Adobe saga shall continue. Just recently, Steve Jobs responded (to Adobe’s ‘unofficial’ allegations) through an open letter published on Apple’s website on why they’ve decided to omit Flash on their devices. Steve Jobs quotes as saying:
Adobe has repeatedly said that Apple mobile devices cannot access “the full web” because 75% of video on the web is in Flash. What they don’t say is that almost all this video is also available in a more modern format, H.264, and viewable on iPhones, iPods and iPads. YouTube, with an estimated 40% of the web’s video, shines in an app bundled on all Apple mobile devices, with the iPad offering perhaps the best YouTube discovery and viewing experience ever. Add to this video from Vimeo, Netflix, Facebook, ABC, CBS, CNN, MSNBC, Fox News, ESPN, NPR, Time, The New York Times, The Wall Street Journal, Sports Illustrated, People, National Geographic, and many, many others. iPhone, iPod and iPad users aren’t missing much video.
I personally think the tone of Steve’s letter in non-threatening and logically explains their decision to disable the problems that arise on their OS, by removing them from the very root. Unlike Adobe’s claim, Adobe or Flash are definitely not as open as HTML5. Also, Flash to iPhone converter can never fully enable or utilise all the features extended by the iPhone OS. Having a middle layer (in this case Adobe’s flash converter) doesn’t improve quality for the user. What it does do is to make it easier for the developer.
Great apps aren’t built easily and iPhone users have every right to ensure only good quality apps are installed on their device. Apple just wants to ensure this, so what if an old not so relevant technology needs to be killed in the process. Adobe, you need to allow Apple to pave way for the new and if you can’t comply, then step aside.
Update
You can find excerpts from WSJ’s interview with Shantanu Narayen, CEO Adobe and a former Apple employee; on Steve’s letter. Amongst many points, Shantanu does move on to say the following:
Speaking about Mr. Jobs’s assertion that Adobe is the No. 1 cause of Mac crashes, Mr. Narayen says if Adobe crashes Apple, that actually has something “to do with the Apple operating system.”
This is ridiculous. This is akin to saying that if your designer clothes don’t fit you, then there’s something wrong with your body structure. I think Adobe needs quickly move across their 5 stages of grief – Denial, Anger, Bargaining, Depression and Acceptance. They presently seem to be stuck at the second stage. All the best Adobe, we’re still cheering for you.
