Adobe Working To Bring Flash Player To IPhone - finally

[Skeva31776]

Adobe Working To Bring Flash Player To IPhone >ADBE
Last update: 3/18/2008 6:22:02 PM

By Ben Charny Of DOW JONES NEWSWIRES


SAN FRANCISCO (Dow Jones)--Adobe Systems Inc. (ADBE) has begun work to create a media player destined for Apple Inc.'s (AAPL) iPhone, Chief Executive Shantanu Narayen said Tuesday, thus adding a new wrinkle to a standoff between the two long-term partners.
In comments widely reported last month, Apple Chief Executive Steve Jobs said the company's iPhone hadn't adopted Adobe's mobile version of its Flash program because of technical and performance concerns. At the time, he suggested Adobe work on a new version of the player.
On Tuesday, when asked about the issue during a conference call with investors, Narayen said the company had since obtained the software developer tools Apple released last month. The tools will let Adobe build a Flash player for the iPhone, then distribute it through Apple's iTunes online store, he said.
"We believe Flash is synonymous with the Internet experience, and we are committed to bringing Flash to the iPhone," Narayen said. "We have evaluated (the software developer tools) and we think we can develop an iPhone Flash player ourselves."
The tools Adobe is using are part of a broader effort by Apple to entice third-party developers to build and distribute iPhone software add-ons. An Apple spokeswoman didn't have an immediate comment.
Adobe's first quarter results show its been doing fine without the iPhone. During its first quarter, a record-breaking 100 million new cell phone devices were distributed that had Flash on board. Also, Microsoft (MSFT), which sells a cell phone operating system, recently licensed Adobe's flash player for phones.
-By Ben Charny, Dow Jones Newswires; 415-765-8230; ben.charny@dowjones.com
(END) Dow Jones Newswires
March 18, 2008 18:22 ET (22:22 GMT)

 

[MrT8064]

woo hoo! about time eh!

but how ever it works, it'll drain the battery like a sieve!

 

[iTeen]

this would be really cool...don't see it happening till late-June(SDK time)
woot!

 

[hard-case]

Not that I like being the usually "glass is polluted" kinda guy I am, but I'll believe it when I see it. They announced about three YEARS ago that they were porting Flash for 64-bit native operation, and so far all they've got are a bunch of chirping birds and a chorus of crickets.....

 

[refulgentis]

Adobe announces plans to develop Flash for iPhone

http://www.electronista.com/articles/08/03/18/adobe.iphone.flash.coming/

Adobe is in the process of developing its own Flash client for the iPhone, company chief Shantanu Narayen told investment experts during a conference call (registration required). The executive revealed that Adobe has obtained the publicly available Software Development Kit and intends to release a version of the animation plugin through the App Store as soon as the software is completed. Narayen stated that analysis by the company suggested a form of Flash could be developed without requiring special access to Apple's mobile Safari browser and that it would be an important launch regardless of how it arrives.
"We believe Flash is synonymous with the Internet experience, and we are committed to bringing Flash to the iPhone," the Adobe head noted. "We have evaluated [the SDK] and we think we can develop an iPhone Flash player ourselves."

 

[aethelbert]

Maybe I'll start to believe this once the standard OS X platform gets a decent version of flash that doesn't destroy fans and batteries...

 

[kdarling]

Hmm.

That's really vague the way they put it. Sounds like it won't integrate with the browser, but is a standalone player.

"Narayen stated that analysis by the company suggested a form of Flash could be developed without requiring special access to Apple's mobile Safari browser and that it would be an important launch regardless of how it arrives."

EDIT: Never one to trust today's amazingly inventive reporters, I went and listened to the broadcast myself. I didn't hear him say anything about Safari or the iTunes store, but perhaps I missed it. Did anyone hear that?

He did say they wanted to work with Apple to bring "the Flash experience" to the iPhone, and that the SDK would allow them to start development.

http://www.adobe.com/aboutadobe/invrelations/08q1analyst/index.html

Click the funny icon to the right of the Volume control. Then choose Section 20 - Q&A @ 7:45

 

[alFR]

To quote John Gruber:

And without approval from Apple (including APIs beyond those in the current third-party SDK), they can distribute it in the same alternate universe as Sun’s supposedly-in-the-works Java port.