A bit of light may have just been shed this past Tuesday in terms of why the mobile Safari browser isn’t Flash-friendly, and might not be any time soon. The reason? El Jobso no le gusta. According to Jobs’ comments on Tuesday, the current mobile Flash Player just isn’t good enough for Safari Mobile. Adobe’s more robust player designed for use on larger devices would be adequate according to the Apple CEO, but because it’s designed for laptops and not mobiles it runs too slowly on Apple’s iPhone / iPod Touch. Of course other mobile browsers have no problem implementing the latest mobile Flash Player and displaying in-line FLV content (cough, cough), but apparently Safari is just too cool for school. This news will leave many a developer disappointed come tomorrow when many expected Apple to announce upcoming Flash support along with the OS X mobile SDK. No such luck it would appear. Of course it’s no secret that Adobe and Apple aren’t exactly best of friends; the relationship between the two companies has been rocky at best in recent years. While business sense continually helps them meet on common ground eventually, they certainly won’t be sitting down for tea and crumpets any time soon. The bottom line is this: Apple customers want Flash on the iPhone / iPod Touch. Developers want Flash on the iPhone / iPod Touch. There’s plenty of money to be made and as such, we can expect Apple and Adobe to work this issue out.
Jobs Says Adobe’s Mobile Flash Player is for the Birds
Updated Dec 19th, 2018 5:57PM EST
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Zach Epstein has been the Executive Editor at BGR for more than 15 years. He manages BGR’s editorial team and ensures that best practices are adhered to. He also oversees the Ecommerce team and directs the daily flow of all content. Zach first joined BGR in 2007 as a Staff Writer covering business, technology, and entertainment.
His work has been quoted by countless top news organizations, and he was recently named one of the world's top 10 “power mobile influencers” by Forbes. Prior to BGR, Zach worked as an executive in marketing and business development with two private telcos.
