Never miss an update Follow AppleInsider
Thursday, July 05, 2007, 12:00 pm
Mossberg: Apple working on Adobe Flash support for iPhone
An impending software update to Apple's iPhone will include a plug-in for the handset's Safari web browser that will finally let users view Adobe Flash media files, the Wall Street Journal's Walt Mossberg reports.The technology columnist made the comments in a question and answer piece posted to his web blog, specifically in response to a question regarding the quality of the Apple handset's browsing experience and its current inability to play some web movie clips.
"At launch, the iPhone version of the Safari browser is missing some plug-ins needed for playing common types of Web videos. The most important of these is the plug-in for Adobe’s Flash technology," Mossberg wrote. "Apple says it plans to add that plug-in through an early software update, which I am guessing will occur within the next couple of months."
The columnist also noted having some success in connecting his iPhone to a friend's BMW dashboard system over Bluetooth.
"In my two-week test of the iPhone, I succeeded in connecting it without much trouble to the built-in audio system and microphone on a friend’s BMW. Almost instantly, the over 700 contacts I had on my test iPhone were displayed on the car’s dashboard screen and calls could be made and received through the iPhone," he wrote."
Mossberg added, however, that the iPhone can use Bluetooth to connect only with cars and with wireless phone headsets. "It cannot use Bluetooth to transfer any data to or from a computer, to play music through stereo wireless headsets, or for any other purpose."
On Topic: General
- Briefly: Jony Ive's title at Apple shortened to 'SVP of Design'
- DOJ e-books trial: Apple's Cue explains 'agency' contracts and pricing, denies culpability
- Skype Video Messages come to Apple's iOS, OS X
- Paperback edition of Walter Isaacon's 'Steve Jobs' coming Sept. 10 with new cover
- Apple defense to take over in final days of e-book antitrust case
Previous Comments View All
How come they let Mossberg say so much? Apple specifically states now that you should avoid Flash in their "iPhone development guidelines". They could've omitted that if the flash update was so near.
The Flash plug-in, if it doesn't bog things down excessively, is excellent news.
this is excellent news... in addition to being able to view flash sites, especially video (good) and advertisements (bad), the other significant factor is that this is probably the preferred method to write applications for many developers, especially if the .SWF file can be hosted locally on the phone's memory. speed should not be an issue. with the latest Flash Player 9, the runtime has increased in speed and efficiency greatly, compared to 8... somewhere on the magnitude of 10 times (guess from memory) for certain features. also, since we are talking about comparing speed against RIA applications running in Safari, the Flash runtime should see parity, if not an advantage to speed compared to AJAX / webkit applications.
The problem is that there isn't currently a Flash runtime for the ARM processor and if there was, how fast would it really be?
joy. so the next time i come here to post from my phone i'll be annoyed by those flash ads.
this will be a great addition to the phone. so many sites i frequent that i can't see without flash...
I'm sure the Flash plugin runs on the iPhone, but if you haven't noticed, Flash on a Mac is a major CPU hog. What a Windows PCs seems to handle without any effort, the Mac struggles along, all the while keeping its CPU cool by accelerating the fan. That would drain the iPhone's battery way too quickly (not a fan, but the CPU usage).
I bet Apple engineers are rewriting the Flash plugin to be small and efficient on the OS X platform. If so, I have no doubt it will benefit Macs, as well, which would rock!
The flash will be a welcome addition. BTW my 2007 Aura TL accepted instant link with Handsfree Link AND all contacts were transferred to the cars dashboard from my iPhone. Something I had been unable to do with Motorola phones or Palm Treo's. A very seemless procedure.
The flash will be a welcome addition. BTW my 2007 Aura TL accepted instant link with Handsfree Link AND all contacts were transferred to the cars dashboard from my iPhone. Something I had been unable to do with Motorola phones or Palm Treo's. A very seemless procedure.
Note that Walt said Flash Video, not Flash in general. It's one thing to support FLV, and another to port the entire plugin to an ARM processor.
I think people are underestimating what a can of worms supporting Flash would be for Apple. Too many complications with all of the poorly written UIs out there. There's no equivalent to rollover on iPhone. No equivalent to drag and drop. And Flash would probably be a MAJOR resource hog and battery drainer.
I can't see Apple convincing Google to convert the entire YouTube catalog from Flash to H.264, and then coming out with full Flash support two months later, anyway. Why help Adobe push a non-standard proprietary file format, when you can sell enough iPhones to force the industry to conform to open standards? Especially when the user experience of Flash on iPhone will probably be mediocre at best for many sites.
I make a lot of money with Actionscript, but I still think promoting Flash in this way is a bad idea for Apple.
I hope they improve the Bluetooth support on the iPhone, specifically adding support for:
- Contacts syncing
- Calendar syncing
- Ability to use an NMEA compatible Bluetooth GPS
I want to be able to use the iPhone as a BT remote control, like other phones can do, for various devices. Like Lego Mindstorms.
Latest Apple Headlines
-
Adobe releases major update to Creative Cloud desktop apps
~1 hour ago -
Inside iOS 7: Calendar app comes with sterilized UI, few feature changes
~4 hours ago -
AT&T starts nationwide FaceTime over cellular rollout
~5 hours ago -
Briefly: Jony Ive's title at Apple shortened to 'SVP of Design'
~6 hours ago -
Apple TV gets iTunes Radio, Conference Room display option in beta update
~7 hours ago - more...
Want to write for AppleInsider? Submit your application now!
Lowest Prices Anywhere!
| Model | Price | You Save |
|---|---|---|
| 11"1.3GHz/4GB/128GB | $964.18* | $34.82 |
| 11" 1.3GHz/8GB/128GB | $1,061.18* | $37.82 |
| 11" 1.3GHz/8GB/256GB | $1,255.18* | $43.82 |
| 11"1.7GHz/8GB/128GB | $1,206.68* | $42.32 |
| 11"1.7GHz/8GB/256GB | $1,400.68* | $48.32 |
| 11" 1.7GHz/8GB/512GB | $1,691.68* | $57.32 |
| 13" 1.3GHz/4GB/128GB | $1,061.18* | $37.82 |
| 13" 1.3GHz/4GB/256GB | $1,255.18* | $43.82 |
| 13" 1.3GHz/8GB/256GB | $1,352.18* | $46.82 |
| 13" 1.3GHz/8GB/512GB | $1,643.18* | $46.82 |
| 13" 1.7GHz/8GB/256GB | $1,497.00* | $52.00 |
| 13" 1.7GHz/8GB/512GB | $1,788.68* | $60.32 |
* price with Promo Code:
APPLEINSIDER01
|
||
| Click for even more configurations | ||
| Model | White | Black | |
|---|---|---|---|
| iPad mini (WiFi only) | |||
| 16GB WiFi |  |
$329.00 | $329.00 |
| 32GB WiFi | |
$429.00 | $429.00 |
| 64GB WiFi | |
$529.00 | $529.00 |
| iPad mini (WiFi + 4G) | |||
 |
 |
 |
|
| 16GB 4G White | $459.00 | $459.00 | $459.00 |
| 32GB 4G White | $559.00 | $539.99 | $559.00 |
| 64GB 4G White | $659.00 | $659.00 | $629.99 |
| 16GB 4G Black | $459.00 | $459.00 | $459.00 |
| 32GB 4G Black | $559.00 | $539.99 | $539.99 |
| 64GB 4G Black | $659.00 | $659.00 | $629.99 |
The Flash plug-in, if it doesn't bog things down excessively, is excellent news.