10/01/2007, 12:20pm, EDT
Monday, October 1stAdobe intros Flash Lite 3: possible for iPhone?
Adobe on Monday revealed Flash Lite 3, an important update to its animation suite for cellphones and other handhelds. The new version is the first to play back video in Adobe's own FLV video format and is the first mobile edition to support animations written in Flash 8, significantly widening the number of sites that devices can view properly. Performance has also improved by about 20 percent overall, the software developer says. Streaming video and progressive downloads also handle more elegantly than before.
Availability of version 3 will depend on carriers and handset makers, Adobe says. Officially, the software is due to support Microsoft's Windows Mobile, the Symbian Series 60 OS found on many Nokia phones, and Qualcomm's BREW platform for many non-smartphone devices. Media players and PDAs will also support the revised Flash Lite, Adobe says.
While the company has not commented on support, Flash Lite 3 may also be the first version of the portable media player that can be considered for Apple's iPhone, which was criticized upon its launch in June for not supporting the increasingly widespread amount of Flash content available on websites such as MySpace or YouTube. To date, Adobe has not said it was developing the plug-in for the iPhone but has also refrained from denying these claims outright.
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Well, no one said that flash was a 'must' for them. But, besides that, I'm always amazed about how much people think everyone knows about a product like the iphone. Do you really think everyone who's interested in it knows it won't run flash? Esp. since Apple touts how it uses a 'real' browser? Most people consider Flash to be such a standard that they just assume it would be there, like it is on every computer they use. Rarely does one have to actually think about it, install it, etc.
Of course, one could argue that since the iPhone is based on OS X, and is a 'real' browser, one wouldn't need to use Flash lite, but could use flash.
And how long before we hear people (or Apple) complaining about Adobe not supporting the iPhone, rather than Apple not supporting Flash? I can hear it now "It's not apple's fault. Adobe owns flash and has to make the plug-in!"