Apple relents on Flash-derived iPad apps

[LadyHoneyBabe]

Four and a half months after an Apple license change led Adobe Systems to scrap a project to bring Flash-derived applications to the iPhone, Apple has reversed the ban.

Apple undid license restrictions for software developed for iOS devices on Thursday, saying it was taking developer feedback to heart. "We are relaxing all restrictions on the development tools used to create iOS apps, as long as the resulting apps do not download any code," Apple said in a statement.

According to excerpts posted at Daring Fireball, Apple removed the extra words it had added to section 3.3.1 of that license in April that had blocked the Flash-derived apps: "Applications must be originally written in Objective-C, C, C++, or JavaScript as executed by the iPhone OS WebKit engine, and only code written in C, C++, and Objective-C may compile and directly link against the Documented APIs (e.g., Applications that link to Documented APIs [application programming interfaces] through an intermediary translation or compatibility layer or tool are prohibited)."

Read more: http://news.cnet.com/8301-30685_3-20015954-264.html#ixzz0z3JAf32w

Now Apple is allowing Flash?

 

[darngooddesign]

Now Apple is allowing Flash?:confused

No they are not.

What they are allowing is app development using 3rd party programming environments. Apps that are created with Flash, are not running Flash any more than exporting a JPEG exported from Flash is running Flash.

 

[smetvid]

That is correct.

Flash CS5 is a development tool used to create Flash content. In order to create Flash content that we view on the web Flash CS5 publishes a SWF file which is like a compiled application. This then runs in the browser.

Flash CS5 can also publish a native ios app which has nothing to do with the the SWF publishing method for the web.

Think of how Keynote can also export a HTML version of a presentation. The presentation is made in Keynote and can play as a Keynote presentation or you can export as a HTML page. The HTML page is a 100% standard HTML page but yet it was quickly created in Keynote instead of creating it by hand. Pretty much the same concept.

Flash ios apps may not always run at 100% the same speed as Xcode based ios apps but they can be close depending on how complex the app is.

 

[TheBritishBloke]

The question is.. Are Adobe going to keep supporting this tool now..

 

[smetvid]

The question is.. Are Adobe going to keep supporting this tool now..

That is a very good question. The iPhone publisher developer forum for Adobe has a few of us talking about it but no official response from Adobe yet that I know of. I have a feeling Adobe is going to take a wait and see approach to find out exactly what this means. In the meantime however the feature is already in Flash CS5. Adobe even added an update a few months ago to support iPad publishing which is something it didn't do at launch. So as of now it works.

 

[LadyHoneyBabe]

So, is there a chance we'd get to see that cool Wired Magazine app because of this change?

 

[eddyb1]

Are there any signs that Apple will run Flash fully? I have heard their argument and personally I am not convinced. For the momet Flash is here and they would have sold many more with it.

 

[emptyCup]

Are there any signs that Apple will run Flash fully? I have heard their argument and personally I am not convinced. For the momet Flash is here and they would have sold many more with it.

Here is Flash running on the most advanced Android phone. Currently only about 4.5% of Android phones are this good. How many more do you think they will sell just because of Flash?