Yesterday, I mentioned the two perceived "killer" flaws of the iPad: the absence of multitasking and Flash support.
We've already seen push notifications added as a way to handle some of the needs that otherwise would be handled by multitasking, and it's safe to assume that competitive pressures and Apple's strong desire to provide a compelling product will lead to more such enhancements. Personally, I'm content to appreciate the products as they are now, and trust Apple to handle future changes with their customary aplomb.
Flash, on the other hand, will likely never be seen on the iPhone OS devices.
What Is Flash?
Flash is a proprietary technology that drives much of the interactive content on the web. Seemingly every major automobile manufacturer's website is purely Flash, for example, and a great deal of the advertising content on the web is conveyed using Flash.
Displaying and interacting with Flash content can only be done by installing and running software from Adobe, typically integrated into your web browser for convenience.
For years, Mac and Linux computers have been treated as second-class citizens by Adobe, resulting in Flash software that's buggy, insecure, and a heavy burden on a typical desktop computer. Flash under Windows is much less processor-intensive, but not much less buggy and insecure.
What's The Fuss About?
Flash's absence on the iPhone is a minor annoyance to most, since browsing the web on that device is an exercise in compromises anyway[1].
The iPad, however, is a much more serious web browsing platform: the Internet in your hands. Many argue that the Internet is incomplete without support for Flash.
Why Apple Can "Block" Flash
Apple's general-purpose computers (MacBooks, iMacs, etc) are just that: general-purpose computers. You can install anything you want or can write yourself, and Flash is available for all of the major web browsers.
iPhones and iPads, however, are not intended to be nearly as flexible[2]. Without jailbreaking an iPhone, many activities common to a desktop or laptop computer are simply impossible.
The control that this gives Apple includes the ability to deny Flash a seat at the table. Its web browser doesn't support the Flash plugin, and Apple constrains the software that can be installed onto the devices through iTunes and the App Store.
Why Flash Is Missing
To my knowledge, Apple hasn't made any formal statements about Flash, not even verifying that it will be missing from the iPad. However, reports from a recent internal Town Hall meeting at Apple indicate that Steve Jobs feels that Flash is buggy and archaic.
Certainly, Steve seemed to take great pride in not quickly moving away from the missing Flash content on the New York Times website when introducing the iPad.
Here are my suspicions on why Flash seems to be verboten.
New Interface, Old Paradigms
A finger is distinctly not the same as a mouse. The mouse is a precision instrument that doesn't obscure the screen, and a computer can tell exactly where a mouse is at all times, even when no buttons are held down.
A virtual keyboard is distinctly not the same as a physical keyboard. There's no meaningful tactile feedback, for example.
What does this mean for Flash and the iPad? It means that much of the existing content on the Internet that is Flash-driven is going to behave badly, or be completely unusable, on a purely touchscreen device.
For example, if you move your mouse over much Flash content, the mere presence of the mouse in the vicinity is sufficient to cause different behavior. The flash content may scroll, or pop up video controls, for example.
Furthermore, many Flash interfaces expect the user to click on small controls; when the "click" is a large, clumsy finger, the user may not be able to see the controls, much less manipulate them properly.
My credit union uses a Flash login screen, so that it can measure the rhythm of my keystrokes as an additional layer of security. I don't know for certain, but I sincerely doubt my typing rhythm will be the same on an iPad as it is on my physical keyboard.
Battery Life
By asserting control over the software on the device, and by disallowing a mechanism for swapping out batteries, Apple has set itself up to blame when battery life is less than ideal.
No matter how frugal with battery life the Adobe Flash plugin may become over time, it is certainly not perceived to be friendly right now, and Apple doesn't wish to give Adobe the ability to kill the iPad's/iPhone's battery while users are simply browsing the web.
Crashes
Similarly, Apple wants your phone to always work (not a bad approach for a device that will be expected to work in an emergency). Apple can't control the quality of the web browser it provides on the device if it also supplies Flash along with that browser. Apple doesn't want to relinquish that control.
Open Standards
One of the primary reasons Apple has survived the Microsoft onslaught (and in recent years thrived) is the open nature of the Internet.
Microsoft attempted and failed to define networking on its own terms, allowing UNIX, Linux, MacOS, and any number of alternative systems (including many that have yet to be created) to peacefully coexist. As long as your computer can comply with open standards, you can participate in the Internet.
Except, that is, where Flash is concerned: to display Flash content, you have to wait for Adobe to bless your operating system, or you have to find a way to simulate an operating system that Adobe already supports.
As far as I can tell, there are only three (probably soon to be four) companies that can realistically break this unfortunate dependence on Adobe: Microsoft, Adobe itself, or Apple. Google may join those ranks in the near future.
Microsoft would happily replace Flash with its own Silverlight proprietary solution, but that doesn't result in a more open future for computing.
Apple is pushing for the evolution of the HTML standard to include the features that Flash provides so that anyone in the world can write a web browser or operating system that can interact with the rest of the world.
Apple's only real bullet, its only chance to break the Flash codependency, is its mobile operating system and devices.
Despite Apple's relatively small market share in computing, the content providers of the world know that Apple customers are desirable. Apple has a 90% market share of retail computers over $1,000, and its smartphone share is rising rapidly. Apple customers and their money matter a great deal to the business that turn a profit on the web.
If Apple puts Flash on its mobile devices, its only bullet is spent, and while Flash will probably eventually die, that day will be a long time in the future.
If Apple can build up a base of hundreds of millions of affluent consumers who don't have access to Flash content, Flash will probably die much, much faster.
And the world will be a better place.
Further reading
Flash
Multitasking
- http://www.roughlydrafted.com/2010/02/17/ten-myths-of-apple’s-ipad-9-it-cant-multitask/
- http://smokingapples.com/opinion/multi-tasking-iphone-ipad/
Footnotes
- A slower processor, a small screen: the web browsing experience on an iPhone is far better than anything that existed in the smartphone space before Apple turned the market on its head in 1997, but still a far cry a "real" computer.
- Apple has proffered explanations for the lack of customization and flexibility on iPhones, including the desire to protect the cellular networking infrastructure from rogue software. I, and many others, feel that by constraining the iPhone and iPad, Apple is attempting to create a much more user-friendly experience for its customers by sacrificing the needs of power users. Those users can always use general-purpose computers to achieve their ends.
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