General Question

cookieman's avatar

Will the new 3G iPhone have integrated Flash support?

Asked by cookieman (41610points) July 1st, 2008

My only outstanding concern with getting an iPhone – and I can’t seem to find the answer anywhere on Apples website.

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5 Answers

osullivanbr's avatar

Nope. No flash support as of yet, even with the 2.0 firmware and the new iPhone.

However, wipe those tears away cprevite, there’s good news on the horizon. Adobe are developing it, ironing out those pesky bugs and such, shouldn’t be too far away.

Have a read of this while you’re waiting.

robmandu's avatar

Not to be argumentative, but I think your concern will remain outstanding for the foreseeable future.

What most people imagine when they think of “Flash for the iPhone” is a browser plugin that executes and displays Flash content inside web pages, just like how it works in desktop browsers like Safari, Firefox, and IE. That requires a content plugin for the browser, and MobileSafari does not support plugins of any kind. There is no way for third-party developers to modify MobileSafari or the content it is capable of displaying via the iPhone SDK.

It is possible, of course, that Adobe is developing a Flash plugin for MobileSafari outside the confines of the APIs in the official iPhone SDK, with the permission and tacit approval of Apple. But at least as recently as March, Adobe indicated that no such deal was in place.

And Gruber opines that it’s not in Apple’s best interest to allow Flash on the iPhone in any case.

soundedfury's avatar

Don’t expect Flash support in the iPhone. Given Steve Jobs’ public statements, I don’t think Apple is inclined to allow Flash on the device, even if Adobe could get past the technical hurdles (which are numerous). The article @osullivanbr links is a year old and the same type of wishful thinking we’ve heard in the past 12 months. However, the wishful thinking isn’t based on fact.

Adobe did unveil a mobile edition of Flash, but shortly after it was panned by Jobs in an investor meeting. He called it “not capable of being used with the web.” In the same meeting he said that full Flash “performs too slow to be useful.”

Doesn’t really sound like Apple is actively looking to add Flash support anytime soon. Add in that they changed all of their web products to remove the use of Flash, and the picture seems clear to me.

osullivanbr's avatar

Oh I didn’t know that, that’s interesting.

cookieman's avatar

Hey thanks for the info. So given that it appears to be a non-issue/priority for Apple, we’ll just live without it.

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