Can Apple's Resistance to Flash Content Last?

Look for Flash applications to be coming to more mobile devices near you, just not an iPhone. Adobe Systems (ADBE) announced Monday that Microsoft (MSFT) has licensed Adobe's Flash Lite software to enable Flash-compatible content in the Internet Explorer Mobile browser.

This will mean that people using those devices will be able to access the building avalanche of rich content available via Flash clients. Microsoft has also licensed Adobe Reader LE software, which will allow users to view email attachments and Web content in PDF format.

Maybe Microsoft really does get the benefits of open, for fun and profit... or at least to take some oxygen from the market competition.

Microsoft will also make Flash Lite and Reader LE available to OEMs who license Windows Mobile software.

Flash Lite already runs on numerous devices, and Adobe estimates that over half a billion have already shipped with Flash capability. However, the latest news now puts more pressure on Apple (AAPL), whose popular iPhone doesn't support Flash, something that has had the blogoshpere bubbling since the iPhone made its debut. The recent iPhone SDK did nothing to make Flash a feature either.

I mean, I don't get it. Apple will deal with Microsoft to bring Exchange to iPhone, but resists Flash content. I know Apple has been a persnickety partner, but this is not necessarily putting the customer first.

Last July, Walt Mossberg went out on a limb and predicted that iPhones would see Flash "within the next couple of months."

Chris Zeigler at the Endgadget Mobile blog refers to the "spat" between Apple and Adobe as being part of a Goldilocks syndrome. Last week, he quoted part of Steve Jobs' remarks at a recent shareholders meeting:

Basically, Steve doesn't like Flash Lite -- the pared-down version Adobe has designed for small screens and lightweight processors -- and the full-fledged version has too much bloat for the iPhone's resources.

Whether Jobs is right remains to be seen, but the half billion devices that already use Flash technology may put a few holes in his argument. It would seem that Apple is in kind of a bind. The early adopters and gadget geeks have all gotten their iPhones, and now competitors are lining up with similar products, some coming in at a much lower price than the iPhone.

Later adopters, and even some gadget geeks, may place less value on novelty and slick features, and pay more attention to the rich media experience they're already used to on desktops and laptops. A lot of smart phones and PDAs already use Windows Mobile. Adding Flash to those would create a lot of pressure in the market.

Comments

[wall streetguy]

This is Adobe Flash story makes me laugh. Microsoft is forced to put Flash into WinMobile to try to catch-up and compete with the iPhone and these dopey old bloggers see it as a competitive advantage ! Are they really that clueless to what's going on ? The iPhone already has e-mail PDF attachment reader capability and superior "media rich" functionality. That is why the iPhone accounts for 70% market share of mobile device web activity. Apple has that position in less than a year. Think about that for a minute.

Those "half billion devices" currently loaded with Flash....what good has that done for those devices ? You ever try using Flash-lite ? It sucks (and not just the battery) and that's why it isn't used much. This will do nothing to increase WinMobile's attractiveness vs RIM or Apple.

Now if MSFT could ever ship it's new Silverlight software for mobile, that may be something worth talking about. But again, these old time Microsoft apologists are just clueless to the real story out there.

[Jon T]

The answer to his question is a resounding YES.

Good post Wall Street...

[PK deC'ville]

Dana,

You're missing the point. Apple is very committed to EXCELLENT stds based solutions. It has standardized to H.264. H.264 is light, performant, capable, elegant and a std. Flash Lite is propietary, non-performant, klugey.

Apple will do everything it can to avoid supporting FL. However, they're a business, and if MS and Adobe make FL a defacto (although suboptimal) std Apple will support it.

Note, however, Apple is leaving it to MS and Adobe to 'make the sale'. Who knows? Maybe Adobe ships a major, great upgrade to FL and then everyone will be happy.

[Mart]

Dana, the crucial point you seem to be missing is that all those "half billion" phones are not running Flash. They are running Flash Lite 3.0 (or older) which does not work with the vast majority of Flash sites out on the web. The full Flash version is at v.9.0 now.

Flash Lite is instead used mostly to create the user-interface and portals on phones particularly in Japan etc.

The world is moving towards the open Web 2.0 standards of Ajax and Javascript that the iPhone fully supports. This is the direction Apple is headed - not pushing for the proprietary, expensive, processor-hogging, battery-draining Flash or the limited, cut-down Flash Lite.

-Mart

[jonesy]

In your quoting of Chris Ziegler, you show he didn't actually "quote part of Steve Jobs' remarks." He paraphrased it and added his own interpretation. Either replace the word "quote", or go out and get the real quotes Steve made about Flash and Flash Lite, including the part about "a product in the middle" (which can be found on the web).

[Tom B]

The Wall St. Guy has skewered Mr. Gardner. I've personally been tempted to download Flash BLOCKERS on many occasions, and Gardner is worried the iPhone doesn't have Flash? Absurd.

[KenC]

Flash is not "open", and it is not a "standard". It's proprietary, that's why MS had to license it.

And, if you put flash on a mobile device, that has barely no internet presence(Win mobile devices as measured by In-Stat), then how is anyone going to ever use it?

Lastly, Steve Jobs has stressed the usability of the iPhone. That's the secret sauce. That's why iPhone internet usage already exceeds that of all Win Mobile devices combined after 10 years of being on the market. Putting Flash on an iPhone will make the iPhone unbearably slow, besides being a battery hog. How does that help usability? It doesn't. The reasons why Flash is not on the iPhone is so obvious, it amazes me that the media just parrot the PR-speak of MS.

The bigger story is why is MS adding Flash, when they are developing Silverlight, a Flash-competitor? Is it really choice, or is it desperation?

It's sort of like the PR-spin MS put out about Xbox 360 game consoles coming in 3rd in sales both in January and February. They said it was supply-constrained. Did any analyst check to see if that were actually true? I mean, go to the stores. Do you see "sold out" signs where Xbox inventory should be sitting? I don't. I see lots of Xbox consoles waiting to be sold. There's no supply constraint. It's MS PR-spin, because they stuffed the Channel in Xmas and retailers have to move them off the shelves before MS can ship more. That's why the numbers are down, but are any analysts doing any store checks? Beuller? Beuller?

[Mike from PA]

"The early adopters and gadget geeks have all gotten their iPhones, and now competitors are lining up with similar products"

Are you kidding me? Similar products? The iPhone is in a class by itself. None of the other "similar" products work as beautifully as my iPhone. I have never had a product so elegantly designed. And as to flash, I really don't care. I already view my email attachments on the iPhone and Apple has done an excellent job at allowing me almost identical internet experience on my phone as on my computer. I just don't get this article at all.