Have you been extremely bothered by the fact that the iPhone will not open some web pages or allow some features of a webpage to function due to the lack of flash capability? Have you attempted to use YouTube directly on the safari browser? Have you tried to play a video or use a flash drop down menu only to get the infamous box with a question mark in it? This article will go through the reasons the iPhone does not currently have flash and the potential to implement flash in the future.
Apple has long been criticized for not having flash available on their ever so popular iPhone device. Most users anticipated that flash would be an absolute inclusion with the release of the iPhone 4. The most commonly searched question about the iPhone is whether flash will be included on the next software update or device release. With the larger, faster iPad not having flash, we can be rather certain that Steve Jobs has made his point by eliminating flash as a possibility on the iPhone or iPad.
In a recent press release, Apple stated that flash is too inefficient of a working platform for the iPad and iPhone products; stating that the battery is quickly drained due to the processor usage flash requires. At the same time, Apple stated that the new html5 will be the apple based platform for flash performance on the iPhone and iPad. The html5 platform will allow for a more efficient operation and will be conscientious of battery life.
As seen by the current flash apps that have been designed for the iPad and iPhone, battery life is a major downfall when using flash. The flash platform displayed on these apps causes the device to crash, get overheated, and drain battery life in minutes. The interface is not smartphone friendly and frustrates the user even more.
The future of flash on the iPhone is uncertain; however, by the looks of recent comments by Apple, flash will not be surfacing on Apple devices anytime soon. The implementation of html5 will create major competition for the Adobe flash platform and will likely lead to a redesigning of how flash can be integratable with the iPhone and iPad devices.
While the future is uncertain, the myriad of websites using flash will have to either switch over to html5 or offer iPhone friendly sites.
