by Biloxi Von Lutz

Created on: July 22, 2010

The recent feud between Apple and Adobe over iPhone development has been well documented. As everyone knows, the Apple iPhone is wildly popular and has pretty much revolutionized the smartphone world. The iPhone also features a relatively new creation know as the App Store. Here you can download all sorts of neat applications that range from stupid little games to kill time to useful apps that extend the functionality of the phone. What people may not know, is that Apple rules this App Store with an iron fist.

Adobe makes all kinds of software, but people are probably most familiar with their Adobe Reader software and Flash platform. Flash is a popular programming platform for games, multimedia and animations. It's best known for being the basis for nearly all Youtube videos. 

The problems between the two companies arose when Apple changed its terms of service to essentially ban programs like Flash. Flash enables users to run other programs outside the control of Apple and that violates the iPhone terms of service. Specifically this line of the iPhone Terms of Service applies to Flash, “No interpreted code may be downloaded and used in an Application except for code that is interpreted and run by Apple’s Published APIs and built-in interpreter(s)."

When Adobe developed CS5, the ability to implement Flash for the iPhone was added and thusly, Flash applications could be developed. Adobe has developed Flash for other mobile platforms so the thinking was that eventually Flash would be allowed on the iPhone. However, once Adobe released CS5, the flash app was not admitted into the app store and Steve Jobs himself shot down the idea that Flash would ever be permitted on the iPhone. Jobs had several less than spectacular things to say about Adobe Flash and following this speech is when Adobe officially ceased development on Apple mobile products.

Apple has taken a lot of heat for their position of not allowing Flash on the iPhone. Without Flash, Apple users have to make do with a substandard version of the web. There are advances with more "open" formats like HTML5, but many popular websites like Hulu and Youtube still rely on Flash to deliver their content. The major benefactor of Apple and Adobe's split is Google's Android smartphone operating system. Consumers are purchasing phones running Android in droves since Adobe has implemented Flash for the system. Only time will tell what effect this has on Apple.

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