I admit I was continually disappointed at first when I saw the big old "plug-in missing box" in place of Adobe Flash objects whilst browsing the Web on my iPhone. I was saddened that I couldn't watch Flash-based video, play Flash games and watch those really cool Flash cartoons from my iPhone. That disappointment changed to understanding and acceptance after I read the April 2010 letter from Apple's main man himself, Steve Jobs.
In his letter, he explained so clearly the reasons the iPhone does not support Flash objects. Some of his points that stood out the most to me were the fact that people can easily export video content into open-source formats (aka QuickTime) so that iPhone and other smart-phone users can see them, the fact that the iPhone was interfaced around human touch and not mouse clicks as Flash is, and finally his point that the iPhone isn't the only smart-phone device not supporting a Flash plug-in (in fact, there are none).
I no longer feel so labored when I go out of my way as a Web developer to create alternate HTML content for my Flash-based objects intended for the Web. How can I ignore the massive amounts of iPhone and smart-phone users anyway? I would be naïve to not see the way of the future, in which the lines between the devices we use to access the Internet are definitely blurring. Helllllllloooo... iPad!
Check out Steve Jobs' blunt, but as usual, smart letter about Flash and the iPhone.
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