More Flash - Adobe says it the money revenue stream

[Fred_Also]

Cult of Mac

Why is there no Adobe Flash on the iPad? Adobe says it’s not because it’s buggy, as an Apple source claimed this afternoon to CultofMac.com.

It’s because Apple is protecting revenue streams derived from content like movies and games. If users could watch free TV shows on Hulu, they wouldn’t buy them through iTunes.

“It’s pretty clear if you connect the dots: the issue is about revenue,” says Adrian Ludwig, an Adobe group product manager for Flash, during a telephone interview on Friday afternoon.

There's more in the article referenced.

But it looks like Apple wants to protect iTunes video sales.

Fred Also

[mattkime]

don't care about the reason, but as a web developer, i'm glad

[bik]

Yeah, the company that makes a crap product points its finger at the "greedy" company and says it's their fault.

If Flash on OS X wasn't so remarkably bad, someone might take this kind of claim seriously.

[Mike Sellers]

If any company is able to detect actions designed solely for "protecting revenue streams", it would be Adobe.

[macphanatic]

IIRC, Flash has a lot of security issues as well as being a resource hog.

[pRICE cUBE]

Another day, another excuse.

[deckeda]

If users could watch free TV shows on Hulu, they wouldn’t buy them through iTunes.

Revenue stream protection or not, Apple controls all aspects of their mobile devices pretty tightly. And with their popularity they have leverage to force people to ask the question of what's wrong, why isn't there Flash? In contrast, the Mac is a traditional computer and must make do with old design choices and expectations.

It causes discussions like the ones we've had here lately, and makes people aware that there are other, and yes I would agree better, ways of streaming video. The non-video Flash items on a web page are sacrificed for the greater cause of promoting things that don't rely on one 3rd-party to make video work.

Video isn't the only thing Flash is used for by any means, but Flash is certainly the de facto app used for online video playback. And I think everyone would agree video is a huge deal.

Abobe, with Flash video, represents the sole proprietary aspect of the online experience. It's currently ubiquitous but that's far from meaning it should be retained or defended. Thanks to Apple, more people will come to see this as a positive, and not simply, "hey, what's with the blank box?"

Meantime, there's a bit of pain involved for viewers. We can lament being used somewhat as pawns in this game, or we can work towards promoting a better long-term solution. Personally, I get tired of gnashing my teeth about these issues.

At the moment I'm fine with the trade-off of no Flash on the mobiles, and selectively using it on my Mac. I think this attitude is best for the long-term health of the Web.

[tahoedrew]

Adobe's claims are a bold-face lie and Apple is just waiting for the day they go mainstream in making Adobe eat their face on the issue!

If you're following ANYTHING that's going on with the new HTML5 standard you KNOW that both YouTube and Vimeo have enabled HTML5 viewing on nearly all their videos, videos that most people think are currently only available via FLASH. AND, all those HTML5 videos render AMAZINGLY well on Apple's Safari and Google's Chrome browsers, in fact, they render faster and better than FLASH!

So, if Apple's really just trying to protect their revenue stream, why would they be the first (along with Google) to embrace HTML5 (an open source, opposed to FLASH)?

The fact that FLASH is slow on the Mac OS (and Linux) is really no one but Apple's fault. Let's be honest, if Microsoft can get Flash to render fast and quick in IE and Windows there's no logical explanation of why Apple wouldn't be able to do the same. Apple just doesn't want to devote the resources and cow-tow to Adobe and their proprietary formats. Despite an attempt at being publicly amiable towards each other, Steve and Apple DESPISE the direction Adobe has taken itself in the past 5-10 years, and some of that may come from feeling betrayed by strengthening development on the Windows platform.

The truth is Steve and Apple just don't want to have to program their OS and applications for a company they despise. I wish Mac fans would stop spreading false truths and saying that it's Adobe's fault Flash doesn't render quickly on a Mac. It's Apple's fault, but it's by CHOICE. Of course, those of us who drink at least a little of the Kool-Aid believe there's a reason for that choice. And, in seeing HTML5, you'll all finally see WHY that choice was made.

~A

[Doc]

tahoedrew wrote:
So, if Apple's really just trying to protect their revenue stream, why would they be the first (along with Google) to embrace HTML5 (an open source, opposed to FLASH)?

The truth is Steve and Apple just don't want to have to program their OS and applications for a company they despise.

Apple and Google are business partners and Google has never made more than a token effort to protect the content on YouTube.

The truth is that we don't really know why Apple insults Adobe every chance they get lately, but it makes sense that when companies that big have conflicts it's all about money.

I think maybe it's just a bit cheaper for Apple not to cooperate with Adobe. If Adobe could produce a compelling economic reason for Apple to open up their iPhone/iPad OS for Flash then Apple would jump into bed with them without a moment's pause.

...

The market-advantage of Flash video is that it's proprietary.

The market-problem with HTML 5 is that the specification and APIs are available to anyone. Sites like Hulu don't want people taking advantage of that to download and distribute videos because that would undermine their profit-model.

Consumers generally accept the limitations imposed by Flash in exchange for the convenience of abundant free legal streaming tv shows and movies.

Apple wins because they can push sales of otherwise free content through the iTunes store. Adobe wins because on most devices other than Apple's niche products they've got a lock on the market. Most consumers win because they get the experience a plethora of rich multimedia without great investment.

People who buy Apple's niche devices and who get all of their multimedia through legal means are the only ones suffering in this fight.