Flash application for iPhones in the offing?

02 February 2009

Tongues have been set wagging in technology circles by Adobe chief executive officer Shantanu Narayen's recent statement that Adobe Systems is working toward getting its ubiquitous Flash technology onto the Apple iPhone.

However, in an interview to Bloomberg Television on the sidelines of the World Economic Forum at Davos, Narayen acknowledged that even after months of striving, a workable version of Flash for the iPhone is proving a tough nut to crack.

"It's a hard technical challenge, and that's part of the reason Apple and Adobe are collaborating," Narayen said. "The ball is in our court. The onus is on us to deliver."

But experts question exactly how much the two companies are willing to collaborate. Back in may last year, Adobe had said, "To bring the full capabilities of Flash to the iPhone Web-browsing experience, we do need to work with Apple beyond and above what is available through the SDK (the iPhone software development kit) and the current license around it."

This brings into focus a key issue: however far along Adobe actually is with reconfiguring Flash for the iPhone, it will need a definitive thumbs-up from Apple to bring the technology to the public. Narayen's "collaborating" could mean that Apple is giving Adobe access to the iPhone that other companies cannot get from the iPhone App Store. This would be essential if Flash were to work as a plugin, the way it does on the Mac.

Apple hasn't opened its browser up to anyone yet. It makes some sense for it to allow Adobe in if Flash ran well enough - because many Websites still rely on Flash for content and navigation. And some some competing phones, including Palm's forthcoming Pre, do offer Flash. But there's no guarantee it will run well enough on the iPhone to watch streaming video, for instance.