Why The iPad Won't Support Adobe Flash

One of my chief complaints about the iPhone deals with the lack of Flash support. Of course, the iPad will inherit the same basic restrictions as the iPhone.

It is easy to blame everything on one side of the problem: Apple's TOS (Terms of Service) strictly forbid 90% of Flash's best abilities, while Adobe seems to be dragging their feet on producing a version that adheres to Apple's TOS.

Strictly speaking, the iPhone (and presumably the iPad) TOS states that no application can launch another application, or provide an API for use by other applications. It's a bit more complicated than that, but then if you wanted complicated, you should go read the TOS yourself ;-)

Because Adobe Flash is pretty much the second coming of Christ, it can do everything that the iPhone wants to keep sacred. Flash has become the next best thing to a portable operating system in that it can easily accommodate a full-size application in the same way that an operating system such as Windows or MAC OS can do. Provided of course that you have the RAM available to handle the interpretations.

One reason that the iPhone has become so popular has to be the availability of the App Store. It allows iPhone owners to download and install paid and free applications over the air. Those applications however have to pass a battery of inspections and tests to prove that they do not break Apple's TOS.

If a full version, or even the so-called "Lite" version provided to Windows Mobile owners is allowed onto the iPhone, you can say "Bye-Bye" to Apple's stranglehold on the iPhone. Anyone with a computer and internet access would be able to construct their very own applications in Flash, post them to a website and then access it at will.

Now, Apple may be pretending that locking up the iPhone with such a strict TOS is meant to protect the operating system from viruses (yeah, supposed to be 'viri' but my spellcheck disagrees!) and root hacks, such as those that plague Windows systems worldwide. The truth is, they are making a killing off of the App Store and that was the plan from the beginning.

On the other hand, it took Adobe a while but they did manage to come up with a "Lite" version of Flash that could run on the very RAM-restrictive Windows Mobile phones. It seems that they are dragging their feet when it comes to producing a version that would work on the iPhone as well.

I can't really blame Adobe here, after all they would have to basically chain their beautiful application to the floor and beat it with rubber hoses in order to satisfy the imperialistic folks at Apple.

The only version of Flash that could pass the Apple TOS would be #fail. The restrictions would prevent it from working on your favorite sites, including game sites not just your favorite pr0n site.

The iPhone owners would then take out their rage and frustrations on Adobe and not the innocent-looking Apple crew, since Adobe would be the one providing them with the app to begin with. Could you image the emails and phone calls that Adobe would receive when 90% of the Flash-enabled sites showed only restrictive warnings and not the Internet Goodness that everyone would expect?

Everything I've read and watched about the iPad seems to be leaning in the same direction as the iPhone. The iPad will be able to access the App Store and run the same applications as the iPhone.

With 1G of RAM, expect some "iPad-Only" versions of your favorite apps to be rolling off the assembly line soon.

Just don't expect Flash. Ever.