Steve Jobs: Thoughts on Flash
In a distinct break from terse messages sent from his iPad, Steve Jobs has posted a 1,700 word missive on his Apple’s website. Broken into six sections, the essay explains Apple’s stance on Flash in detail.
Jobs attacks Flash for being closed, crash-prone, and battery draining, while defending Apple for supporting open standards and trying to create the best user experience for mobile devices. All that may be true, or not, but what this really about is control.
Countering complaints against iPhone OS being a walled garden of an operating system and development platform, Jobs argues that Flash is “100% proprietary” because development is controlled by Adobe. In contrast, Apple fosters “open standards” like HTML5 and technologies like WebKit, even though iPhone OS itself is admittedly proprietary.
Jobs then attempts to counter the argument that a device without Flash denies users the “full web” experience. He notes that H.264 is an alternative format that makes video available from a long list of sites that does not include Hulu. As for the lack of Flash games on Apple devices, Jobs admits that’s true, but argues there are more “games and entertainment titles available for iPhone, iPod and iPad than for any other platform in the world.” That may be true, but all those games require an iPhone OS device, locking out tens of millions of people with nothing better to do than play Farmville at work.
Turning to “reliability, security, and performance,” Jobs slams Flash for security and reiterates that “Flash is the number one reason Macs crash.” He then points out that, despite promising a mobile version of Flash, Adobe has repeatedly failed to deliver. Jobs notes that “We think it will eventually ship, but we’re glad we didn’t hold our breath. Who knows how it will perform?” Ouch.
That leads into complaints about battery life, the example being ten hours of iPad video with H.264 versus five hours with Flash. Regarding the Flash interface, Jobs complains that Flash is designed for mouse input, not touch. Since most Flash websites would have to be redesigned to incorporate touch input, “why not use modern technologies like HTML5, CSS and JavaScript?” Ouch, again.
Finally, there is “the most important reason.” Cross-platform apps result in the “lowest common denominator set of features.” Taking a another dig at Adobe for needing 10 years to develop a fully Cocoa version of Creative Suite, Jobs declares that Apple wants developers to use the best native tools to create the best user experience in applications. That way “everyone wins,” well, except for Adobe.
Really, it’s about control. Couching it in terms of the user experience is fine, and true, in my opinion. However, as is made clear repeatedly in the essay, Apple is determined to remain in complete control of the development of its mobile devices, from the hardware to the operating system to the application development process. The question then becomes whether Apple will be able to do so.
With the statement by Google that Flash will be included as part of Android, and Microsoft signaling that Flash will be a part of Windows Phone 7, though not the first version, it’s essentially Apple against the rest of the world. Apple may indeed succeed in “leaving the past behind” with Flash and ushering in the era of HTML5. However, should market pressures ultimately force Apple to allow Flash, it will be because the lack of Flash has hurt the viability of iPhone OS. The “past” may yet catch up with Apple, but that has yet to stop Steve Jobs and company from looking towards the future.
Modified image courtesy of Flickr user plasticbag
Thumbs up. I, for one, was always a bit skeptical of Apple’s motives, and even though I’m not convinced that this note paints the full picture, at least it makes several really good points that helps me understand the decision to not use Flash.
Very interesting analysis. I think your interpretation of the letter is spot on: Apple wants control. This is hardly surprising, and the letter is really just Apple finally acknowledging a position that’s been obvious for months.
The next interesting thing to watch will be Adobe’s response. The clock has started. It’ll be interesting to see what Adobe cooks up in the next 24 hours.
I expect Lee Brimelow at the Flash Blog will have something to say shortly. Hopefully, it will be a little more cogent and little less rant. The best argument, not that I agree, is pretty simple: Flash is choice. It’s also fair to say that doing interactive magazines without Flash is hardly as simple as pressing the HTML5 button in an SDK. Where are the equivalent development tools? Steve Jobs suggests Adobe should create them. If Adobe were to ask why they should reinvent the wheel, that would be a pretty fair question.
I don’t agree with this – Jobs was making a reasoned argument as to why they don’t want to adapt flash. I am open to the idea that there may be more to it, but I don’t think you can credibly say that he “moaned” or “complained” – the reasons seem perfectly logical, really. Yes iPhone is a proprietary platform, but yes, so is Flash, and in this case Adobe are simply interested in expanding their market – Apple are just not willing to let them do that at the expense of the user experience in using their devices, and Jobs is right – there is no direct reason to use flash, and even before HTML5, there never was – it used to be a convenient and fun way to create animations on the web, then it became an easy to program video player, and now it’s turned into a development platform, but it’s extremely limited, buggy, and doesn’t do well cross-platform. It just doesn’t cut it.
You may moan about his choice, but it’s his company, his products. Have you tried programming these things in Objective C? It’s a synch…
I guess we just have to be objective in terms of demand/quality, If Flash is a power hog it’s a power hog, and if HTML5 is Harder to use It’s harder to use, What web developers have to do (company or private) is what’s best for the users. If there is a solution to the Flash issue of using touch instead of mouse control, re-write your website. Be Thoughtful of the End User not Whats easy for me as a designer/programmer/web developer. And if you can really do everything you can with flash usinf HTML5 Move on Flash is about 10 years old or more EVOLVE! Apple does this very often. Tehy should Stand their ground.
I have Flash blocked on both my browsers and have a fail safe KillFlash in my menubar…because flash is a cpu HOG…and makes all the fans run and run and run for a simple you tube video…that’s insane
and I have the 2009 2.8Ghz 15″ MBP…there is no excuse…the only time I ever have browser issues is when flash is running…since I started using Click2Flash and Flash Blocker (firefox) I have only had to force quit my browser once in 9 months…as apposed to at least once or twice a week before that…if they can’t make it a smooth experience then they need to go away…
GOOD BYE FLASH…we won’t miss you when you’re gone
Well said. Kill Flash
Well said. Kill Flash.
PS TAB: i have flash blocked on your site.
Well said. Kill Flash.
I have had an iphone 2G and now a 3GS an iPad since April 3rd and counting all the times I had missed Flash. Is a grand total of 0. I even have click2flash on my macs and only allow flash to run when necessary. I won’t said Flash is dead but is in a serious need of an upgrade that addresses the power and resources hog issues.
I thought Steve really has something to say to developers, but in fact he has just paraphrased the lie we have heard a lot on other blogs.
Well, only sixth point makes some sense, but it’s not somethings that can’t be solved.
Other points are just bullshit.
If you don’t trust, just take a look here: http://theflashblog.com/?p=1926
Or here: http://theflashblog.com/?p=1917
Whatever, we can create applications using Apple software. But what about creative agencies who would like to use iPads as a target platform? How to create an appealing animated content with some simple scripting? Is there any tool for that Apple has in stock? The answer is no.
I strongly believe that mobile phones and tablets are different categories and there should be some authoring software to produce content for tablets. As for me, Flash is a great choice here. But if Flash is rejected, what Apple can offer?
Apple has created a new category, but I hope Google will win the whole battle and new Google tablet will leave 1-5% market for iPad. :-)
Apple wants control; control of its own destiny.
Steve Jobs was being charitable towards Adobe. He mentioned that it took Adobe 10 years to fully migrate to Mac OS X. He glossed over the fact that Adobe NEVER did migrate to NeXTStep. If they had…. the mind boggles contemplating the alternative history!
FOR THE RECORD:
SWF is an open format. You are not required to use ANY Adobe product to make swf files.
Which products may I use to make SWF files? Will these files use less CPU than the ones created with Flash?
You should probably understand that not Flash, but the content makes the CPU load. If you create dummy application, it will load your CPU to 100% no matter what technology you use. :-)
Steve Jobs talks an awful lot about “open” when he is talking about closing an entire platform to an industry standard.
He talks of battery efficiency — yet after having my iPhone for a year, the battery works worse than a new iPhone running software decoded video.
In terms of quality? The app store has thousands of horrible Apps, yet he wants to maintain quality.
Things just don’t make sense. HTML5 isn’t mature enough for Apple to lean so heavily upon it.
My Response: http://www.seangw.com/wordpress/index.php/2010/04/apples-steve-jobs-thoughts-on-flash-and-my-response/