One of the things that many people don’t like about the internet experience on the iPhone was the lack of Flash.
So is Flash coming to the iPhone?
Well, no…
There will not be a flash player for the iPhone.
What there will be is the opportunity to create applications for the iPhone using Flash CS5. You create the Flash based activity or application and then export as an iPhone .ipa application.
The new support for iPhone applications in the Flash Platform tooling will not allow iPhone users to browse web content built with Flash technology on iPhone, but it may allow developers to repackage existing web content as applications for iPhone if they choose to do so.
Flash Player uses a just-in-time compiler and virtual machine within a browser plug-in to play back content on websites. Those technologies are not allowed on the iPhone at this time, so a Flash Player for iPhone is not being made available today.
Flash Professional CS5 will enable developers to build applications for iPhone that are installed as native applications. Users will be able to access the apps after downloading them from Apple’s App Store and installing them on iPhone or iPod touch.
So if you can create Flash activities and games, well now you can create iPhone Apps.
Actually one of the things I love about the iPhone internet experience is the lack of Flash! If you think the app store is flooded with useless apps now, imagine how many variations on ‘Punch George Bush’ we’d get if it were allowed?
It’ll be interesting to see how many ‘Flash’ ipa apps make through into the iPhone store. One the reasons for not using Flash on the iPhone is power and performance related and the big advantage of Flash is it allows a lot of visual development without worrying about processor calls etc. So will any Flash apps actually make it though the assessment process by Apple?
According to Adobe such Apps are already on the store.
Those are prelease apps from Adobe. I love great Flash apps but the trouble for Flash is it is easy to produce resource hungry apps poorly suited for mobile use. In learning circles for years I’ve heard the misunderstanding that with Flash Lite (the way most Flash is done on mobiles) you can just convert existing desktop resources. I expect we’ll hear the same myth about the iPhone now!