Outside Innovation

Apple and Adobe Disagree about iPhone Development and Flash Support on iPhone and iPad

Apple Bans Adobe Flash Compiler for iPhone--Does Limiting the Development Platform Stifle Innovation??

My "Patty's Pioneers" group has been actively (and privately) debating the reasons behind, and the ramifications of Apple's recent changes to the Terms Of Service (clause 3.3.1) in the iPhone software development agreement described in this post by John Gruber: New iPhone Developer Agreement Bans the Use of Adobe’s Flash-to-iPhone Compiler.

We've had interesting technical debates about whether there are good technical reasons why Apple should not support Adobe's development tools and compilers--too slow, too buggy, too insecure? Make it easier to migrate to a next generation chip?

We've also debated the pros and cons of using cross-platform development tools for mobile applications--write once, run anywhere--or writing platform-specific applications using platform-specific tools.

We've debated whether Apple is looking out for the customer to avoid a lousy customer experience, or looking out for Apple--to ensure a more profitable revenue stream by controlling the flow of money thru iTunes.

We've bemoaned the investment that companies with sophisticated Flash applications will have to make in order to re-develop them for the iPhone, if this war continues.

But what I think has captured all of our imaginations the most is the quite public feud going on between Apple and Adobe. 

Google Android vs. Apple iPhone: Whose App Ecosystem Will Win?

 

The recent buzz about the Verizon/Motorola/Google (An)Droid vs. Apple/AT&T/et al iPhone has revolved around two customer-critical issues and one supplier-critical one (can you guess which is which?):

• Which device+network combo meets customers' usability requirements?
• Which brand evokes the most loyalty?
• Which ecosystem will attract the most apps?

As pundits review and early adopters swarm, I've been noticing a few patterns in the dialog. It's not about the device. Sure, everyone comments about display resolution, keyboard quality (or lack thereof), industrial design, and user interface. But there are also provocative wars of words (and maps) about network availability (in the U.S.—other countries have more pervasive mobile networks than ours). These are the initial barriers to adoption. Do I like it? Can I use it?