Will there ever be flash support for the browser on iPod Touch/iPhone?

S

Superhuman

[H]ard|Gawd
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May 19, 2006
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Just wondering if there will ever be flash support for the browser on the iPhone/iPod Touches.

The lack of flash support is really holding the browser back from its potential. So many sites use flash nowadays.

It seems like such a simple feature to implement....
 
I've wondered about this for a while now, but no answer seems to be forthcoming. Perhaps that will change when the dev kits start shipping...
:confused:

-Brian
 
Probably when your warranty is up, then you'll know. :rolleyes:

It is a shame. Its only a matter of time before johnny-startup makes a similar product with flash capability, then everyone will migrate to that.
 
I think they left it out due to the strain it would put on web surfing via EDGE. I know that here in Oklahoma City, there aren't open wifi spots everywhere like Jobs seems to think there is, so a lot of the time I have to use EDGE to access the web features. Pages load slowly enough opn EDGE that I shudder to think how long they'd take with Flash loading, too.
 
Well who the fuck is he to decide how convenient a load time is for me?


I can decide on my own if I want to wait a certain amount of time for a page to load. If you don't wanna wait for a page with flash to load, then don't go to that site. Having a long load time is better than not being able to access a site at all.
 
Superhuman said:
Well who the fuck is he to decide how convenient a load time is for me?


I can decide on my own if I want to wait a certain amount of time for a page to load. If you don't wanna wait for a page with flash to load, then don't go to that site. Having a long load time is better than not being able to access a site at all.
Click to expand...

Decisions like that are made with the whole in mind, not the individual.

And any site done completely or primarily in Flash is a shitty site to begin with.
 
Exactly. Decisions based on "greater good" should include as much functionality as possible - not as little as possible. My apologies to folks who live in BFE, but your infrastructure limitations have no business dictating what my device capabilities are or aren't. If that was actually Apple's development rationale, then they've lost quite a lot of credibility IMO.

As shitty as Flash sites are, they're a reality of today's Internet. Just like Java - another steaming pile IMO - is everywhere. But guess what else isn't supported in Safari mobile... Ubiquity should be recognized and supported in these devices, and it's frustrating that the devices that have the computing capability to support them but don't.
:rolleyes:
 
Superhuman said:
It seems like such a simple feature to implement....
Click to expand...

It would cost millions of dollars to port flash to Safari for the iPhone/Touch. Given the low marketshare, I doubt Adobe would make this investment. The most likely scenario for them to do so would involve Apple implementing the touch screen interface on every iPod from now on. I don't think they'll make a HDD Touch version, and people still seemed to be turned off by the low storage (though I personally have found 16GB to be more than adequate). Maybe once the iPhone loses exclusivity as well, but I'm sure by then we'll have something better anyhow.

Flash support would be welcome, but I can live without it.
 
I don't think the issue is that of load times so much as it is of battery life and processing power. Flash on OS X is a resource hog, and it seems that even with some crafty optimizations by Apple, it would still be a hog on the iPhone/iPod.
 
Will there ever be? Absolutely. Given the incredible amount of multimedia content on the web using Flash or an equivalent, sooner or later a browser incapable of Flash will be practically useless. I won't put words in Apple's mouth, but they'll give it to you eventually--though it probably won't be until Adobe figures out a way to compress Flash data a bit better.
 
If load time is an issue, they could build in a module to check for wi-fi vs edge. The iTunes app does it.

There was a job opening at apple not too long ago that was for a flash guy for their handhelds division.
 
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