Actually, I’m kind of surprised its taking this long. I figured someone would have taken android version and did a hack/port a few months, back, but I guess I’m getting spoiled with seeing hacks and jailbreaks coming out in days.
Still, from what I’ve heard, there is a good proof of concept out there. The project is called ‘Frash’ and its basically a port of the Android flash 10.1. It only runs on mobile safari at the moment and its still pretty buggy. As such they released the code on GitHub (get it here) to see what other people can do with it before its released to the general public. The code was created by Comex, a company that made the Spirit jailbreak.
I have not looked at the code, but now that its out there, I’m going to guess a few weeks before we get something we can call later Alpha or Beta 1. However, when you read the comments, you still get people asking ‘Why’ should we even care if we have Flash on iphone/ipad? Darn good question. Ask yourself, when was the last time you used flash with exception to video or an advert? I have a few cloud app that are flash based that I still use, but I could be the exception, not the rule.
adobe, flash
Actually, I’m not even sure I should call it an Alpha. The folks at Adobe basically hacked together this device to run android so that they can show Air displaying a magazine. Now.. WHY would someone take a CLEARLY hacked device to a show? Perhaps because they are so pissed at Apple they were willing to do anything to show Flash running on a tablet? I would think so.
And it was running. Its was buggy as all get out, but most of the fail was around the digitizer and display. I pulled up this website and it rendered fine, including the flash ads. So my impressions? Ignoring the alpha state of it, I can see the value just as I would with the iPad. Size is everything. Having a nice large display that I can directly interact with is a big plus. And since Android is basically the iPhone / iPad open source, I would expect the same trade offs. More flexibility in exchange for a smoother user experience.
The fun bit was just how hacked this thing was. Have a look at the images below.
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adobe, Android tablet
{UPDATE 2} A response from Lee Brimelow on his Flash Blog. I think this says it all. “… Now let me put aside my role as an official representative of Adobe for a moment as I would look to make it clear what is going through my mind at the moment. Go screw yourself Apple.”
{UPDATE} Adobe is looking into the new SDK language. They continue to develop Packager for iPhone OS which will debut in Flash CS5
This really make me mad. Part of the agreement for iphone 4.0 app development is that you cannot use outside libraries. In English, you can only develop from the iPhone SDK.
Here is the actual language..
“The language from the agreement, which is section 3.3.1: Applications may only use Documented APIs in the manner prescribed by Apple and must not use or call any private APIs. 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 through an intermediary translation or compatibility layer or tool are prohibited).”
So basically as I read it, any app using a compatibility layer or tool like flash to iphone or java to iphone is verboten. What does this mean for the 3D engine unity3D? Is that no longer allowed too? This is pretty much aimed at Adobe and the new feature in CS5 that will allow you to create an iphone app using actionscript 3. Poof! Gone. This is the worst news ever. Why should intermediary code matter as long as the actual execution code is still compliant??
I wonder if we are looking at a lawsuit over this.. What a crock.
… Its 24 hours and I’m still mad. I mean, what if Comcast said they would only show movies that were shot with Panasonic cameras?
adobe, cs5, flash to iphone
I’ve written a few posts.. ok, a number of posts on how annoyed I am that Flash in not on the iphone. My biggest complaint is the lack of video support. But WHY? What we hear from Adobe is that there are technical issues and its up to them to solve. Riiiigghhtt.. Yes, I’m sure there are technical issues, but not as you might think. The problem is that Flash, like Java, has the capability to be its own OS on top of another OS. If you do not know already, there are a number of virtual desktops running in Flash that you can load within your web browser (‘g.ho.st’ is a good example). The beauty of this solution is the ability to take your desktop with you from machine to machine. Great. Wellll, not so great as far as Apple is concerned. Let’s remember that Apple are control freaks, almost to the point of being clinical. So to allow flash (or Java) on the iphone with access, (even limited) to OS level calls, could set up the possibility of a platform on a platform situation. So imagine we have Flash running on the iphone. It would pretty easy, as I used to be a pretty hard core Flash programmer, to set up a desktop with icons and widgets. People could call applications on the fly because you can insert flash apps into flash in real time. Include video support, socket connections and access to storage (even session limited) and you could have a phone OS within a phone OS including calling and running 3rd party applications.
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adobe, apple, flash
Arrgg.. every time I read anything about the FAIL on getting flash running on the iphone, it just bugs the heck out of me. So guess what I read today from cnet?
‘Lynch demonstrated Flash Player 10 on devices running Nokia’s Symbian operating system, Microsoft’s Windows Mobile, and Google’s Android operating system. But the quintessential example of the new family of smartphones, Apple’s iPhone, so far remains only on the wish list.’
<rant>
Now Lynch is saying that Apple and Adobe are working together to on getting flash working and that Flash lite is still being worked on, but really, after all this time? Nothing? You know that Apple has put some sort of ‘platform’ restriction on it to keep it WELL sandboxed. And now Flash 10 by 2010, but NOT on the iphone? Lynch also demonstrated AIR 1.5 running on a Linux-based Aigo miniature computer. I would think they could at least get AIR working on the iphone. Even that would be a step in the right direction. Of course, as I’ve said many time, what I REALLY want is flash video support. I’m sure Apple is in no hurry to get that going. Come on Apple! Its on Android. Android! I’m waiting for blackberry next. Hmmm… blackberry.
</rant>
adobe, apple, flash, rant
Argg.. So I read this on PCW:
Adobe has confirmed that Flash capabilities won’t be coming to the iPhone anytime soon. Company CEO Shantanu Narayen recently discussed the difficulties in bringing Adobe’s most well distributed product to the iPhone. “It’s a hard technical challenge, and that’s part of the reason Apple and Adobe are collaborating,” Narayen told Bloomberg Television at the World Economic Forum in Davos, Switzerland. “The ball is in our court. The onus is on us to deliver.”
Now this may seems like ‘ah, here we go, more excuses for flash not being on the iphone’. Well, I dont think so. Just the fact they Shantanu said they are working on it is still a big deal. Many people do not buy that the problem is technical, but as a former Flash programmer, I can tell you that the flash player is pretty demanding; and depending on how much of the flash feature set they want to support, I can see some limits. However, I have seen Flash 7 working on many portable devices, so if Adobe limited a few of the more heavy feature of the flash API set, it can be done.
Still…. why cant we at least get the flash video player? THIS is what I’m calling B.S. on. There is NO technical reason flash video only could not be supported right now.
adobe, flash, iphone, video
rumor control alert!!….
Just read in engadget that Apple is bowing to the pressure of Android and has agreed to work with Adobe to put Flash on the iphone.
<rumor>
..Adobe CEO Shantanu Narayen has revealed that Apple and Adobe are “collaborating” on making Flash a reality on the iPhone..
</rumor>
Not too many details yet, but this is step 1! I will pound the interwebs for the next few days and see what more I find.. I’ll add it to this post unless it’s something major.
.. you can now resume your normal interwebs viewing.
adobe, flash, iphone, rumor
