How exactly are they are going to go around the iPhone SDK license which does not allow for application plugins without asking Apple for special treatment.

You see, I am not interested in a stand alone Flash Lite application like the one on most Symbian apps. I am interested in the full Flash version, as a browser plugin.

Adobe can go fly a kite. As long as their Acrobat updating software is as supremely annoying as it has been for the last two years, I'd just as soon see a plague on all their houses.

I think Adobe and Sun are obviously too busy or too important to read the EULA on the SDK. Either that or they think it doesn't apply to them. We'll see, but I call BS.

They need to fix the flash player in the wii first, opps wrong company to be complaining too. Seems like a good idea to put flash on the thing. ::puts fingers back onto his crackberry cruve::

If Apple isn't involved in this, then it will be impossible to do anything else than a standalone player, which nobody would ever need. There's no argument NOT to do a flash plugin, as long as the end user can turn it off just like javascript.

Surely they are going to have the same problem as Sun with Java though? The player is pulling down code to run (ActionScript) which was denied in the SDK license.

If not then it should be possible to create other scripting runtimes - Python etc.

Having a Symbian phone I have a couple of Flash Lite apps such as a measurement converter which run through the player on the phone. Apple don't want to allow apps to be downloaded from 3rd parties/created without an SDK license so I can't see them allowing a player which can do just that.

Maybe Adobe could also get around to developing a Flash player for Vista 64 bit.

@Julien321: Vista64 doesn't have a flash player? Oh you mean just running on the OS, not a brwoser plugin?

@Eugenia: Let's not limit ourselves in thinking that it will be a stand alone player just to play SWF.

What if they develop a player that will do both browsing and animation? all inside the iPhone customized player.

Or let's say they develop an application that will do everything, like make calls, send SMS, MMS and whole lot of multimedia capabilities like video recording etc etc...

Apple could really be making a stupid decision here. I can see it now... Apple says no to Adobe, so Firefox/Opera sign a deal with Adobe and put a flash player in their iPhone browsers making Safari totally useless on the phone.

Screw Flash. I want to see an open standard, implemented in the browser (no plugin) based off of existing standards (SVG,JavaScript,H.264) with hardware acceleration.

I'm not a big fan of Flash. If anything, I hope the iPhone breaks its grip.

"Screw Flash. I want to see an open standard, implemented in the browser"

ill second that, i hoping the iphone would be another nail in the flash coffin, we have passed flash and it is no longer necessary.

I don't know about all that, but I think you just gave some comic book fans an awesome background image if it didn't exist already!

Nice!

I would be totally happy with a stand-alone player. After all thats exactly what happens when you launch a quicktime video in Safari. I just want flash so I can view videos. I don't want it for websites that use it for their entire site.. thats just ridiculous. There's no reason for me to be browing any crazy flash sites on my iPhone. Give me Flash video and I'll be a happy camper.

@speakerwizard:
"i hoping the iphone would be another nail in the flash coffin"
Flash coffin? What flash coffin? In case you haven't noticed, every single major and minor Internet company utilizes flash across a huge array of sites. Youtube, Google, Yahoo, Facebook (for their ad serving tech), etc etc etc.

The whole "flash sucks@!!@" thing is over. Get with the times.

Apple didn't technically say NO to Flash... They just said they needed one that was good enough for the iPhone and it looks like Adobe is doing just that.

Excellent idea, Jesus. That would be a fair compromise.

I'll be waiting Cupertino...I'll be waiting.

Would it be a possibility that Flash Player could be incorporated into a 3rd party web browser?

Firfox for iPhone anyone?

Firefox*

@DangerousDac: Maybe. That would be a possible work around. But it's also possible that Apple will lock out any other browsers. Who knows...

@speakerwizard: what planet are you living on? :)

Yeah I mean Flash dying would be great if replaced with an open standard... but let's face it. Flash has a high user-install base right now and there are a LOT of sites I frequent that are Flash and Flash/HTML hybrids that I just can't get to on my iPhone - and it sucks. Don't hand me the most advanced device of our time, tell me I have the whole internet in my pocket, then say "well, 75% of the internet anyway."

I'm REALLY shocked Apple declined to incorporate Flash, unless they are working on their own solution - which, in my opinion, is very likely.

I think they should by all means go by it. They could say its a multi-platform software taht just happens to work with apple's iphone.
And when they see the demand go up for this product then they'll have the free version and then charge you for the full version thats integrated into the software.
Or adobe can just put the software on download.com and on their main page.

Adobe needs to go on a diet, all their software since the CS (crappy shit) is so slow and bloated it's beyond a joke.

I installed Flash CS2 trial compared to the Flash MX version and the CrappyShit2 version took about 50 times as long! WTF!

Apple is right not to let adobe put it's battery killer on their iPhone - yes that's right, want to kill battery life or any portable device, laptop pc etc... run flash!

Adobe must be hitting the same bong Sun is.

Another option which everyone seams to be overlooking is that flash could pair up with Firefox and make a killer Safari alternative for the iPhone

Hey, make 'em fight for it I say - if they really want flash to be part of the browser experience on iPhone, they can prove the concept and show Apple what they have.

Win win for everyone - better code come from a little competition/incentive no?

As a Flash developer, I honestly just want to make content for the iPhone, no matter how it's accessed. I really wish Apple would just, at least for now, add Flash lite support. What the hell would it hurt, especially with Flash lite 3 now being able to play video? It would just be adding some much wanted functionality to an already kick-ass browser. Flash lite isn't even that bad. At all. There's actually a lot you can do with it. I wish the Steve agreed.

As a flash developer, I just really want to make content for the iPhone. Plus, why the hell can't Apple at least add Flash lite to Safari? It would be adding at least some much wanted (and, in my opinion, needed) functionality to an already kick-ass mobile browser. Flash lite isn't even that bad. At all. There's actually a lot you can do with it, especially with Flash lite 3 doing video now. What I think a lot of people don't understand, judging by the comments above, is the simplicity and ease Flash adds to creating a web site, animation, or interactive piece. That's why it's become such a standard over the web. Saying things like, "Extend functionality on javascript or html and dump flash!" definately is a dumb choice. It would be nice to have be done, in a way, but i don't think you'll ever be able to do something in javascript that you can do in flash.

So can we please get that image for our iPhones please!!!! Yes that is the Flash logo on my cap.

:)

Wow thought that first one didn't make it. Sorry bout that.

Yeah! Even if its not in Safari, its a start, and I'll take it. Thanks Adobe

I think apple still doesn't like the flash crowd, and from what I understood along with battery life some of the other reasons for not implementing it into safari was because of sites like Pandora, that take the focus off of the iTunes store. I'm pretty sure they thought of the possibility of flash coming once they released the SDK, so perhaps with that wall down a future plugin to the safari browser with the ability to toggle it would be a must-have feature. Here's hoping!

Adobe need only say: No Flash for iPhone - no Photoshop for OS X.

All right so I opened up Illustrator and made the flash wallpaper for the ones that want it.

[area71.com]

@hlindqvi: Yeah right. The sudden absence of competition for Aperture is really going to make Apple cave.

Face it, guys: The iphone is Apple's sandbox and Jobs says who gets to play.

I'm looking for a open standard to replace flash. I wish I could get animation built into the browser and h.264 streaming video which is already done by quicktime, but doesn't always work on the iphone. Also any flash player would suck on the edge connection, it would take forever to load.

I think Safari 3.1 is a good step they just need to get stuff like HTML 5 etc into the iPhone. Like Java the Flash player would be able to fill niche application users. Nothing like playing linerider on an iPhone!

Sooner or later we will see Firefox on the iPhone and that will for sure support Flash. I predict Apple will need to enable some Flash functionality if they want to keep Safari the primary browser.

@Charger71: Nice. Thanks

If Adobe makes a version of Flash that doesn't suck out loud on Mac OS X, then I'm sure Apple will see their way clear to allowing a Flash plugin for MobileSafari.

I agree that Adobe create a lot of bloatware, (acrobat, CS anyone!) but to start blabing about an open standard in this stage of the game well its a little too late for that, Flash content is pervasive, and having no access to it makes a "full" browser a little less useful. yes no handhelds has done it perfect yet, but so far Apple has done a good job. they need to crack open their tight @ss and allow more apps on the Iphone and IpodTouch products.

I bought it let me use it my way!