Apple Not Right About Flash On iPhone

Written by: Gundeep Hora on 5/26/10  |  Filed Under Apple  |  Share    

Just a few minutes ago, we published a story that discussed the controversy surrounding Flash 10.1 on Android. The argument that stirred everyone was that Flash could make Android slow. We disagreed.

ComputerWorld columnist Jonny Evans believes that Apple is right about disabling Flash on the iPhone-iPod touch-iPad combo. His argument is flawed on many levels, and it didn’t need to be had he carefully assessed the benchmarks on PocketNow. Because Flash presumably slows down browsing speed, Apple is within its right to disable it, Evans argues. We don’t think so.

Look, it’s not whether or not Apple is right in disabling Flash. What has everyone puzzled is Apple’s control on its platform. Everyone is upset because Apple doesn’t give consumers the option to work with Flash at the risk of impacting their browsing experience. That choice should be left to consumers, period. If I want to watch Hulu on my iPhone and risk draining battery life more quickly, then so be it. My device, my choice. The same applies to page loads. If I want to view Flash-enabled webpages and wait 10 minutes for a single page to load, again, that’s my choice. Leave me alone.

Either way, Evans should’ve looked more carefully at the benchmarks, instead of jumping to conclusions so quickly. It’s irresponsible.

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  • tim
    Flash would be great on my Ipad and Iphone, but right now it looks so bad, and i can't stand all the dam adds. Maybe somewhere down the road flash will be feasable on a mobile device, but by then something better will prob come along. bottom line is phones like the iphone are about the experience and a choppy webpage showing memory errros for most average users would be a bad experience
  • lepaniag
    YES! Totally agree with you. Itis so annoying how Steve Jobs thinks he can be the next dictator. We all understand why flash isn't the best technology but I think each user should decide on their OWN wheather or not they want to use Flash.

    lepaniag
  • i take the anti-apple stance on this one. It's about the core of apple's policy. Interestingly, some iphone developers i kno feel that although it doubles the work they have to do (can't use the flash cross-platform tools), it's in the users best interests to have apps that are built specifically for their iphone.

    May not be able to argue with that...

    I think it's an ultimatum though. As soon as Android gains critical mass for developers to generate revenue from, the newer apps will start being built on android.

    Time will tell...
  • Sam
    The problem with your argument is that the choice between Flash or not can never truly be in the hands of the consumer anyway. Apple is fighting for the consumer, forcing everyone else to change their structure to accommodate the consumer's experience. If the iPad, iPhone, iTouch, etc. allowed Flash, the world would see no real incentive to change its reliance on Flash. The result: Flash drains battery life everywhere. We saw a significant chunk of the world change for Apple and the consumer at the launch of the iPad. The world is listening to Apple.
  • Guest
    Yeah that's your choice.. But others will probably complain big time on how the battery of their phones are being sucked away by flash or whatever.. It will never end.. Zzzzz
  • Guest
    Amen, brother. A-freaking-men.
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