carciofino

No Flash on iPhones

So something that a lot of people talk about and we as developers are very aware of is the fact that you can’t run Flash websites or elements on iPhones.

Everybody seems to just take it for granted but have you ever thought about why that is?

The more trusting of us might just assume that for whatever technical reason it isn’t possible whilst the more suspiciously minded of us may suspect some more corporate reason involving financial strategy and ulterior motives on Apple’s part.

I’m an Apple fan. I like their products, I think they make good technology and present it beautifully and I can see where the extra money you spend compared to Windows or alternative options goes.

However I’m still always suspicious of giant corporations who wield so much power they can change the whole dynamics of a market. So back to Flash… Flash is very good for games. If you could run Flash on your iPad/iPhone then you wouldn’t need to buy so many apps.

If the iPhone ran Flash then people would be designing games (and other sorts of apps) in Flash specifically with iPhone use in mind and could sell them to you directly from their own websites. That would cut Apple out of the equation completely and their 30% that they currently take from every app sold.

The ideas presented here are opinions not necessarily facts but it seems to have worked out well for Apple anyway!