Adobe Flash Video/Ads Coming To iOS
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Apple has gone to war with just about anyone who dares to compete with its iOS lineup, suing where possible and spreading FUD when they can’t. Before the lawyers ever threw the first punch however, there was the original rivalry, Apple vs. Adobe. Many analysts believed that Steve Job’s unwillingness to embrace flash would be the death of the platform, but amazingly, it thrived. HTML5 video spread across the web like wildfire, starting with YouTube, and moving to just about every content creation site worth visiting. Adobe put up a brave front, but has finally thrown in the towel, and announced how it will address flash on iOS going forward.
According to the Adobe press release, Flash Media Server 4.5 will negate the need for content producers to support multiple video wrappers, and will take care of the conversion process for them when faced with an iOS version of Safari. The Flash Media Server will convert the video, and eventually flash advertisements on the fly, stream the resulting output to users transparently.
Since the heavy lifting will be done by Adobe servers, this means iOS users will get to enjoy all the benefits of Flash, without the CPU and battery sucking resources that usually comes along with it. This news will no doubt come as a welcome change for iOS customers who have struggled to work around these issues for years, but is likely to ignite a bit of jealousy from competing platforms who are stuck decoding Flash the old fashioned way.
It’s likely that Adobe plans to roll this service out to all platforms eventually, but it makes sense to start with one and add support as they go. It’s a smart move by Adobe to try and slow the adoption of HTML5, but it hard to imagine even with this, they will halt it completely.
(IMG Credit: DigitalTrends.com)
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TheBigCheese
September 12, 2011 at 3:56pm
I can't wait for Flash to go away. How many websites do you go to that display a "loading" thermometer for a loooooong time and then a meaningless animation. All I wanted to do was see a restaurant's menu but I had to endure over a minute of flash animation loading and playing before I could get to the menu. This was after I failed using my iPad and went to my desktop computer.
Adobe is just evil. They make buggy software, price it high, and give inadequate support.
whiskeymcclinton
September 11, 2011 at 9:30pm
It doesn't matter to me. HTML5 sucks up as much processing power as Flash, so the only benefit I see is it being open. Just was on the HBO website, and the entire site was 100% Flash. Ran pretty well, actually.
If Adobe improves Flash, makes it free and easy for the end user, and delivers a better production suite for developers, then it will live on. HTML has been playing catch-up to Flash for more than a decade now, and it looks like it has almost caught up.
Stinky Fartface
September 11, 2011 at 8:57pm
From the various automatic porting demos I have seen, not all Flash based content ports that well. Video is one thing and that appears to convert well on the fly. But Flash with more animation and interactivity can really suck after it's converted to HTML5. Talk about heavy CPU usage, I have seen simple animations come to a crawl after HTML5 conversions.
Honestly I wish Adobe put as much work into developing Flash itself as it does all these Flash back end solutions. Flash is old and stale and hasn't seen eny significant development since Adobe bought Macromedia. They relaly need to get it up to speed with their other aplications like Photoshop and After Effects. Instead it just seems to get kludgier and buggier with every release.
Modred189
September 11, 2011 at 6:39pm
I enjoy the flash on my Droid 2. Sorry, iOSers, here's another way your're still feeling teh jobsian shaft.
ronnblank
September 11, 2011 at 7:03pm
I enjoy flash on all my iOSer products just like you do on your Droid 2. PUFFIN BROWSER .99 cents.
Works pretty well actually, runs smoother than my XOOM.
DasHellMutt
September 12, 2011 at 3:27pm
Agreed. Lets address the same to Sun/Oracle regarding Java.
livebriand
September 11, 2011 at 3:36pm
Whatever... I'm looking foward to HTML5 stuff taking over. I hate propriatary crap.
Holly Golightly
September 11, 2011 at 12:27pm
How weak... They seemed to just have thrown the towel in just like that. Oh well...
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