Why do Apple devices not run Flash?

[steve z]

What's the history behind Apple devices not running Flash?

I have to say its increasingly frustrating me on my iPad.

[Blue Meanie]

Because flash is by far the biggest reason that Safari crashes, therefore Jobs said "fix it, or fk off". They didn't fix it. I can't say i've missed it particularly.

[steve z]

So one mans ego about the stability of his browser is more important than what consumers want?

[cho]

Same here. Starting to find I can't access a lot of sites properly because there is no flash. Not really a tech guy so don't understand why safari apparently crashes and I.E doesn't so much. Is this because adobe can't be bothered or is it because safari is just more difficult to make compatible?

I initially thought that the lack of flash wouldn't be a problem and it isn't when using the iPhone but the iPad is supposed to be a home surfing device for me and replaces my broken laptop where I expect to be able to get the 'full' web experience. Unfortunately this is increasingly becoming the opposite of a decent web experience and doesn't 'just work'

[RobDickinson]

Control over what runs on the iDevices.

Flash would give peple an open ended non iStore way of running code on them.

This is the only reason.

[jmorgan]

I run blockers on my mac (tis an emac though so quite old and struggles with flash). Same on the pc (not old). Allows me to view what I want in flash not get bombarded at every turn.

Sorry, not answering the question.

[jazzybee]

I think this could be the unravelling of the recent rise of Apple. Steve Jobs says its about the code, but its more about control of the interface. iOS4 has been terribly un reliable for me causing lots of data connectivity problems, iPhone 4 has its own issues as it now appears iPad has with hot running. All these issues along with the lack of flash on the platforms will lead consumers elsewhere, and that looks like the Android based hardware that does run flash. Estimates are that there will be more Android devices than iOS ones by the end of this year. Then its more a case of normal service will resume shortly.

[paddyhasneeds]

Funny thing is, I use Chrome on OS X which uses Flash, and it doesn't crash.

[thinfourth2]

steve z said:

So one mans ego about the stability of his browser is more important than what consumers want?

NO

When safari crashes because a mac owner doesn't know why it has crashed they will blame apple, not flash

So flash being a bag of wk is harming apple i know since i discovered it was flash crashing safari i installed a flash blocker and my mac is back to being a reliable computer

[thehawk]

Worst "I can't run porn video sites on my iPad" thread I've ever seen.

[steve z]

thehawk said:

Worst "I can't run porn video sites on my iPad" thread I've ever seen.

Pornhub works fine actually!

[jazzybee]

PW said:

Guess what the only plug-in to crash on my PC is...

Guess which of the HTML/flash versions of our website randomly doesn't work on various computer/browser combinations...

Good on Apple - flash is bad enough in the "correct" uses, and encourages people to use it in completely the wrong way, where it becomes even worse.

its not all flash is it? Its just poorly done flash that the developers have optimised for the majority of users. It may be lazy and slapdash - but that would be the case with almost any development environment.

[davido140]

There's some Steve Jobs rants about flash which shouldnt be too hard to find.

Battery life is apparently a big one, running flash apparently kills the batteries on iphone/pads...

Then he had a big falling out with adobe.

He's a bit of an odd one to be honest, also available online is an email chain where he got baited into an argument with a pissed reporter who sent him a snot-o-gram one night when getting in from a bar.

'ere you go

http://www.apple.com/hotnews/thoughts-on-flash/

and

http://m.gawker.com/5539717/steve-jobs-offers-worl...

Edited by davido140 on Saturday 31st July 12:45

Edited by davido140 on Saturday 31st July 12:47

[RobDickinson]

davido140 said:

Battery life is apparently a big one, running flash apparently kills the batteries on iphone/pads...

ORLY. Thats nice of him to disable half the web because he cares about battery life, prehaps removing the LCD would help with that too...

[Dr.Doofenshmirtz]

Answer: Money.
They want you to buy your apps, not download them for free.
No other reason.

[BliarOut]

Dr.Doofenshmirtz said:

Answer: Money.
They want you to buy your apps, not download them for free.
No other reason.

Nope, no technical reasons whatsoever..... No Sirree Bob, none. It was definitely to make me pay for all my apps, thus far they've actually cost me.... Now't

[RobDickinson]

Theres many many people who do buy apps though, apple get a nice 30% cut on that.

Apples control over the iStore apps is complete, as a developer having done some iPhone apps I'm not doing any more, its a 100% one sided relationship.

[dxg]

RobDickinson said:

Control over what runs on the iDevices.

Flash would give peple an open ended non iStore way of running code on them.

This is the only reason.

Also that fact that a Flash application need only be written once to run on many different platforms in exactly the same way. In Jobs' view, this devalues the "Appleiness" of the experience.

[deevlash]

thinfourth2 said:

steve z said:

So one mans ego about the stability of his browser is more important than what consumers want?

NO

When safari crashes because a mac owner doesn't know why it has crashed they will blame apple, not flash

So flash being a bag of wk is harming apple i know since i discovered it was flash crashing safari i installed a flash blocker and my mac is back to being a reliable computer

Thats the daftest backwards logic Ive ever heard. The browser sucks and cant run flash, so if the browser crashes whilst running flash people will blame apple, well duh, they made a browser which cant run flash. Id be pissed too, especially when a £100 stty laptop can run it just fine.

So now youve blocked flash all is well and your apple computer is reliable again. Thats like saying your left leg was causing you a lot of pain due to a large gash in it. But its okay now as youve cut it off.

Edited by deevlash on Saturday 31st July 23:26

[davido140]

RobDickinson said:

davido140 said:

Battery life is apparently a big one, running flash apparently kills the batteries on iphone/pads...

ORLY. Thats nice of him to disable half the web because he cares about battery life, prehaps removing the LCD would help with that too...

indeed, I think he's as much of a tool as he is a genius..

Frankly I hate apple stuff, unfortunately it's seems like it's here to stay in a big way, it's also starting to encroach on me at work too now that apple are agressively going after blackberry/RIM business users.

From my point of view the devices are all very pretty but nothing bloody works on them, it's very difficult/a pain in the arse for 3rd party companies (IT networking and security vendors I work with) to develop software for the phones/ipad as they are such a restrictive platform. Mac OS is a bit easier but still rubbish if the services you are connecting to are Microsoft based.

grumble grumble.

Edited by davido140 on Saturday 31st July 23:26