Adobe Gets Flash Working; Apple Sprouts a Sneer

by Eric March on June 17, 2008 at 6:27 pm

When we last checked in on the Adobe-Apple saga, things were pretty much up in the air, with the last exchange between the two going something like this:

Adobe: “Hey, look. Flash.”
Apple: “Thanks, but no.”
Adobe: “Please?”
Apple: “No.”
Adobe: “Pleeeeease?”
Apple: “N-O. No.”
Adobe: “Pleasepleasepleasepleasepleeeeeease?”
Apple: “I’m calling security.”
Adobe: “Fine, but you haven’t heard the last of me. You’ll see! I WILL have Flash running on the iPhone! I WILL! YOU CAN’T STOP MEEEEEE!”

And apart from a wheezing bout of maniacal laughter fading into the distance, we haven’t heard anything since. But true to their promise, they’ve been working on it. Today, Adobe CEO Shantanu Narayen announced that they have Flash functioning in the iPhone emulator. It isn’t ready for prime time and still likely needs some tweaking before it runs at a respectable speed, but it’s working, at least. The problem, as before, is that Apple isn’t playing ball, but the reason for that may have just become a little clearer.

Apple has evidently thrown its weight behind SproutCore, a kind of wrapper or library encapsulating Javascript and HTML and aimed rather squarely at creating rich internet applications in a manner that’s supposedly easier than creating such applications from scratch using the raw languages. Apple’s intentions, it would seem, is to compete on Google’s playground by creating a Mac and/or iPhone-centric internet application ecosystem within which web developers can build feature-rich, remotely accessible applications on the same plane as Google Apps. As a result, the next conversation we hear might go a little like this:

Adobe: “Psst. Hey, remember me? Flash. For real this time.”
Apple: <points to SproutCore>
Adobe: “B…but…but Flash!”
Apple: “Security!”
Adobe: “POOPIEHEAD.”

Now you may be thinking that SproutCore is not Flash, and isn’t even intended to be a competing product, and you might be right. Apple doesn’t seem to have Adobe in its crosshairs with this, most especially because SproutCore isn’t designed to do everything Flash does. However, there is a certain amount of potential functionality crossover that may be making Apple nervous. Such crossover could potentially hamper the adoption of the SproutCore platform, and Apple probably doesn’t want that, so it may be giving Adobe the cold shoulder simply to play it safe.

That doesn’t mean Adobe is giving up however. They’re still plugging away at Flash for the iPhone, and come next quarter they’re likely to approach The Steve with a functional and practical demonstration of what they’ve managed to do. If we’re lucky — really lucky, and Steve is in a really good mood, and the stars align just so, and Warner Bros. finally releases season 2 of Night Court on DVD, then maybe Apple might just say “yes.”

But don’t hold your breath.

(Sources: ZDNet here and here)

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