Steve Jobs has written a post explaining why Apple doesn't plan to support Adobe Flash on its mobile devices. He makes some pretty compelling arguments.
He (accurately) describes Flash as being designed for the PC-based environment and not for the new mobile devices.
I'd suggest reading the full post, but here are the six reasons why Apple will not provide Flash support according to Steve Jobs:
- Flash is closed: it's fully controlled by Adobe.
- While 75% of web video is on Flash, most of that video is ALSO available in H.264 mobile format. The idea that without Flash you lose most of the video on the web is false.
- Stability and Reliability: "We also know first hand that Flash is the number one reason Macs crash. We have routinely asked Adobe to show us Flash performing well on a mobile device, any mobile device, for a few years now. We have never seen it."
- Battery Life: "on an iPhone, for example, H.264 videos play for up to 10 hours, while videos decoded in software play for less than 5 hours before the battery is fully drained."
- Touch: Most Flash websites will need to be rewritten to support touch-based devices.
- Flash is a cross platform development tool. It is not Adobe’s goal to help developers write the best iPhone, iPod and iPad apps.
