Business And Leadership: Adobe CTO hits back at Apple’s Flash jibes

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Adobe CTO hits back at Apple’s Flash jibes

03.02.2010
Flash will work on the iPad and other Apple devices “if and when Apple chooses to allow that for its users”, says Adobe chief technology officer (CTO) Kevin Lynch.

Rather than slating Adobe for not allowing Flash to work on Apple devices, Lynch turned the question around on Apple CEO Steve Jobs, adding that ironically, “Flash was originally designed for pen computing tablets”.

“To date, we have not had the required co-operation from Apple to make this happen,” he adds in an official Adobe blog post in which he talks about open access to content and applications.

"We are now on the verge of delivering Flash Player 10.1 for smart phones with all but one of the top manufacturers.”

These Flash-enabled smart phones include Android devices, BlackBerrys, the Palm Pre and Nokia devices, such as the N900 and N97.

Lynch added that by working with the web’s HTML standard, Flash has augmented the user experience but also been very successful in its adoption: more than 85pc of the top web sites contain Flash content and Flash runs on more than 98pc of computers on the web, he pointed out.

Right now, Lynch said Flash technology can and does have the capability to run on an Apple device: “We have shown that Flash technology is starting to work on these devices today by enabling standalone applications for the iPhone to be built on Flash.

“In fact, some of these apps are already available in the Apple App Store, such as FickleBlox and Chroma Circuit. This same solution will work on the iPad, as well,” he said.