I was going to blog this morning that Steve Jobs’ comments the other day stating that Flash would not be coming to the iPhone any time soon was a huge mistake for Apple and a huge opening for Microsoft’s Silverlight and other smartphone manufacturers. However, I see that Robert Scoble beat me too it. Adobe, I’m guessing has been working on it, but since Steve Jobs is the gatekeeper it doesn’t matter how much they’ve done, it’s not going to appear for awhile. Quite unfortunate, for Adobe and users like me that consume lots of video content via Flash.
I think we’ve all seen that a good Internet experience on a phone is worth a lot. The iPhone demonstrates this. No other phone gets as close to providing this as the iPhone. Yet there is still much work to be done. The iPhone browser, for instance, does not support Flash at all. So I can’t watch Robert’s Qik videos on it as he broadcasts them live. I can’t see all the YouTube videos people post, as soon as they are posted. I can’t check out Chris Pirillo’s live feed when I don’t have anything better to do. And this doesn’t even touch on the other, increasing number of online Flash apps that are popping up here and there.
So the users lose on this one. A browser with no Flash at all is not a winning proposition.
I don’t think that Apple’s SDK is going to save the day either–especially since it appears that it’s going to be locked down. Most developers are migrating towards languages that technologies like Flash and Silverlight provide. Yes, I’m a big believer in C++-ish languages, but I can read the writing on the wall from here–no glasses needed. And the growth market in programming has moved on. It’s a reality.
The thing is by the time that Flash may actually get on the iPhone (let’s say summer time) the world will be different–if Nokia and Microsoft have anything to do with it. If I were them, I’d be working round the clock to beat Apple on this one. How hard can it be? Time to get the best working on this. And fast.
I need to used to the fact that the iPhone is just not a good video device. And by video I mean it can’t record video. It can’t broadcast video. It can’t play live video streams. It can’t play most online video content. Unfortunately, that’s the big thing right now.
Is it time to give up the iPhone? If this keeps up, yes. I’m bummed.
I have just a glimmer of hope that this is one of Steve Jobs’ misdirections. You know, when he cuts down something right before he launches his own version. You know what I mean. Could this be it? I hope so. The clock is ticking though. Hope gets me only so far.