Is apple wrong about not allowing flash on the iPad and iPhone?

[Niheel]

This was a question asked on our facebook page:
http://www.facebook.com/bytes/posts/130679690324231

We got 11 good responses. Here's one of them.

Pramod Ghuge Its not good that Apple are forcing their view on their consumers. However that being said, Flash is a impractical technology which was invented for working around the browser's limitations a few years ago. Now that browsers have evolved, there is no need for flash atleast in websites. HTML5 has developed and will be soon adopted across the web and it supports video natively. Hopefully the restriction on Flash by Apple will hasten its demise and will be replaced by AJAX technologies HTML5, CSS3 and JS.

What do you think?

[drhowarddrfine]

Apple was also the first company to remove floppies from their computer and people groused about that. People complained about the Mac Air not having a DVD player and com ports, too. Flash doesn't work well on *nix/BSD while the video/audio elements in HTML5 work like a charm.

[jhardman]

I understand the reasoning, but in the end it means there are a whole bunch of sites I use that I'll have to access from my PC because "there's no app for that"

Jared

[Banfa]

I agree with Jared, Flash is somewhat ubiquitous on the web now so not supporting is really opening the door to other manufacturers who do support it.

The same is true of not having a USB port on the iPad which other manufacturers tablets have.

The lack of these features makes the iPad/iPhone much less attractive for those people who want a tablet for a functional reason (rather than just because it's Apple, obviously the fanbois are not going to care) and I am not convinced it is good for Apple to be this complacent when they have companies like Samsung breathing down their neck (http://www.theregister.co.uk/2010/11...d_rivals_hard/)

[drhowarddrfine]

@Banfa - See. That's what they all said when Apple removed floppies from their line. Some think Apple was wrong about the screen size of the iPad but others think the Samsung really is just a big mobile phone (as far as screen size goes). I own an iPad and I can't see me wanting the screen smaller.

One thing I keep seeing people wanting the iPad and the Air to be is a desktop replacement, hence the requests for cameras, usb ports, external storage, replaceable parts, but this is not what the iPad, at least, is meant to be, and I think the Air, too.

I just realized that I ventured OT to make my point there.

Here is what I read a lot in the web dev community. The demise of Flash is welcome. It doesn't work well on many systems and plugins are a source of problems. It's another language and development tool that must be bought and learned while most of us already know html, css and javascript.

And what is Flash usually used for? Annoying ads. Yes, video, too, but it's only a delivery mechanism that's available as a plugin for other formats. The new HTML5 video and audio elements are native to the browsers for that. Canvas and SVG with CSS can handle most of everything else. I say most because I hear there are some thing it can't yet.

So complaining about not having Flash is like complaining about not having a floppy drive. Who cares?

[GaryTexmo]

And what is Flash usually used for? Annoying ads. Yes, video, too, but it's only a delivery mechanism that's available as a plugin for other formats. The new HTML5 video and audio elements are native to the browsers for that. Canvas and SVG with CSS can handle most of everything else. I say most because I hear there are some thing it can't yet.

It's also a widely accepted game development platform. When I think Flash, that's actually my first thought. Maybe HTML5 can replace that, and that's fine, but you have to admit that Flash has years of background while HTML5 is kinda new. Sure, maybe it'll catch on, but I do feel like the whole "We're not supporting Flash" thing is a bit premature. If you want to pressure a market change, great, but please do it with something a bit more seasoned.

With the example of dropping floppy disks... imagine doing it right on the heels of the release of the CD-ROM. Maybe it's just me...

[Banfa]

You make reasonable points Doc and Gary has made one of my main counter points, Flash is quite big in online game development.

I have no objection to Flash dying per se but I don't think it can until the majority of web game development moves to something else.

Personally I think lack of USB is a bigger issue. Connectivity seems to be much more important, I could easily imagine wanting to transfer files and media on and off an iPad and for me the obvious choice would be a USB flash drive except you can't connect one.

Obviously there are other options for data transfer, can the iPad attach to a Windows share? If not I guess I could set up an apache web server on my local machine (actually I already have one) but I don't see that as an option Joe Public would use.

[MMcCarthy]

If you need to transfer files on or off the ipad there's an app for that :D

Seriously, apps like Fileapp allow you to store and manage files on your ipad and it has an itunes component that allows you to transfer those files to your pc or visa versa.

I find I use the ipad mainly for reading, mail, social networking and games. Occasional browsing but I prefer the big screen for that. The only issue I had regarding flash was with one particular website which I can't use the ipad to access. It's rather an important website for me work related but rather than feeling apple was totally to blame I couldn't understand why this site was developed in flash in the first place.

[drhowarddrfine]

@MMcCarthy
My feelings exactly.

[Niheel]

For a company that's all about the user experience, i'm bit baffled by having to to forward a link on the iPad to a computer every time i browse a site that has a bit of flash video. Big sites still use flash. Bloomberg, etc.