March 8, 2008 Archives

After rumours of Flash coming to the iPhone persisting since July 2007 it would now appear unlikely. According to Apple CEO, Steve Jobs, Flash just won't cut it on the iPhone, or more accurately, the mobile version of Flash won't cut it and the desktop version would run too slowly.

The main problem is that the iPhone's embedded ARM processor is designed to use power far more efficiently than a desktop or laptop processor, cycling down when not needed in order to both conserve power and to limit heat production. Adobe's proprietary software would need to be recompiled and optimized for the ARM architecture, which isn't something Apple could do without Adobe's input.

Another problem is that the iPhone's OS X environment is designed to run from a relatively small disk image stored in NVRAM and Adobe's Flash, which isn't designed with memory conservation in mind, has memory leakage problems and would tend to use up more RAM than the iPhone's other apps are likely to use.

Couple Jobs' comments with Nokia's decision to go with Microsoft Silverlight on their next generation of phones and it leaves you wondering "Where does this leave Adobe's Flash?"