Adobe Stops Development For iPhone 497
adeelarshad82 writes "Adobe's principal product manager Mike Chambers announced that Adobe is no longer investing in iPhone-based Flash development. The move comes after Apple put out a new draft of its iPhone developer program license, which banned private APIs and required apps to be written in Objective-C, C, C++, or JavaScript as executed by the iPhone OS WebKit engine. According to Chambers, Adobe will still provide the ability to target the iPhone and iPad in Flash CS5, but the company is not currently planning any additional investments in that feature."
Daring Fireball points out approvingly Apple's rebuttal to the claim that Flash is an open format, however convenient it might be for iPad owners. Related: The new app policy seems to be inconsistently enforced. Reader wilsonthecat writes "Novell have released a new press release in response to Apple's announcement that none-C/C++/Objective-C based iPhone application development breaks their SDK terms. The press release names several apps that have made it past app review process since the new Apple SDK agreement."
Adobe also said... (Score:5, Funny)
I hope (Score:2, Funny)
Pretty amusing, actually. (Score:5, Funny)
Android... (Score:3, Funny)
Adobe is instead focusing on other platforms, namely Android. Chambers said he will personally shift "all of my mobile focus" from the iPhone to Android, and that he has a particular interest in Android-based tablets.
Guess that means we'll be seeing more flash based porn apps [slashdot.org]?
Comment removed (Score:4, Funny)
And they didn't see this coming? (Score:2, Funny)
Direct quote from Mike Chambers: "Because this is Flash, it is rather trivial to port games created with Flash that target the iPhone to target other operating systems, such as Android."
Which pretty much sums up the entire reason for 3.3.1. Did they seriously expect that, going in with this offering, they'd get no pushback from Apple? It's been abundantly clear from day one that the iPhone store is a closed platform, subject to the business ideals of Apple (i.e. make Apple more money). Any sane iPhone developer knew this going in, and really doesn't care (or they'd never have started).
I suspect the correct way to view the iPhone store is not "A horribly closed environment compared to e.g. Windows/the Web", but "A largely open market compared to the PS3/Wii etc". Closed platforms have existed for eons without the world ending, and they'll continue to exist in the future. The real novelty with the iPhone is it sits in the middle - neither open nor closed. People are freaking out trying to shoehorn it into one camp or the other, when it's just not possible.
Obligatory side picking: Apple. Just because I will be so very, very glad when I never have to see a Flash ridden site again. Also, because I'm enjoying the irony of the de-facto "Let's take an open environment like the web, and close it up" getting all angry over openness.
Re:Hilarity (Score:5, Funny)
Re:Objective C? (Score:3, Funny)
Sort of. It's a kinda goofy dialect of C with objects tacked on. They borrow some Smalltalk idioms and pepper the mixture with a generous helping of unnecessary brackets and parentheses.
Personally, I think C++ is just as messy so I call it a draw.
Re:Adobe also said... (Score:4, Funny)
"Despite what their Facebook status says, we broke up with Apple first."
LIKE
Re:Hallelujah! (Score:3, Funny)
without the ability to use Flashblock/AdBlock.
No problem, just install Firefox.
Oh, iPhone? never mind.
Re:Something deeper (Score:3, Funny)
If anyone's going to be developing for a locked in closed platform then Apple would rather have it their own instead of Adobe's. If its a matter of developer mind share, Apple wants more people using their crappy incompatible platform because then people are 'stuck' on Apple hardware.
Phase 2 -- Support 'iPhoneOS' apps on Mac's
Phase 3 -- Drop OSX API support for Mac's
Phase 4 -- Drop iTunes support for Windows and prosecute any and everyone who attempts to
Phase 5 -- Own the home PC market
Re:Hilarity (Score:5, Funny)
Which, considering most of the complaints against Gimp are about its user interface, sounds right up Apple's alley.
But when has Apple ever taken an open-source project, cleaned it up with bugfixes and lots of other improvements, and put a proprietary wrapper around it for ease-of-use?
Re:Adobe also said... (Score:2, Funny)
Re:Hilarity (Score:4, Funny)
iWhoosh...