A Different Take on Apple/Adobe and iOS/Flash

First off, I "the8thark'd this one" so to speak.

Apple vs Adobe: some surprising statistics | PC Pro blog

I wanted to post this to present a different side of the iOS/Flash debate. To be fair, I virulently critique Flash on a regular basis so don't take this as a defense of Flash. I posted this so that we could assess whether or not Apple actually has the corporate clout or market share to legitimately change the way we consume content. Yes, we've had many discussions about Flash on iOS devices but I can't recollect there ever being an argument as to why Apple may not matter (it's always assumed that Apple can exert enough pressure). So, my question then is this: Is it worth accommodating Apple's fervent resistance to Flash when, from a market share perspective, they probably don't hold enough power to affect Flash's dominance?

Again, it's worth noting that I am not a supporter of Flash so I am not posting this as a "let's all take on van!" thread (although those are kind of fun). I'm simply throwing this out there for (civil) discussion.

The 2.6% mobile share must be enough clout because lots of sites have mobile versions.

True but that doesn't mean that the Flash version doesn't exist. And if you think broadly, there may be quite a few iOS versions of sites but how does that compare to the total number of sites available?

What this articles preaches is that total market share, as in the number of users and websites with a certain feature is king. As in if 97% of websites have some kind of flash content (which is probably true), this makes flash the best codec out there. And the one everyone should spending the precious R&D dollars into improving. And at first glance investing in the codec that is on nearly every website sounds like a good idea. But if you delve deeper in you'll see this logic is very flawed indeed.

In the business world only one thing matters. And that is money. You make more revenue for your company and everyone is happy. And Apple have become the 2nd most valuable company in the world without dominating every market they went in. They had their business plan, stuck to it and it paid off.

How this relates to the Flash vs the world argument is this. Sure flash having 97% coverage in websites is lovely. But what makes money? And that is flash advertising. it's all over the web. And that is what is keeping Adobe and Google in business. And to that end I think iAd is doing more to hurt flash then the rest of the iOS is. Even I have to admit the iAds (especially the interactive ones) are very good. And they generate more time spent viewing the ad then the boring (and at times annoying) flash ads do.

And on another point. I think one day when HTML5 matures a little more you could have a pure HTML5 version of a site. One version viewable on the PC/Mac, touch/iphone and ipad. One version, no need to make a mobile version of the website. And that causes issues for flash cause it's cheaper/more tiem efficient to create one version of a site then 2 versions. And sure the 2.6% mobile market is not much. But if that high powered client of yours uses an iphone to view your website. You'dd most defiantly make sure you'll have a mobile ready version of the website. Cause keeping that client happy could equal millions more they invest in your company. And if you are a small company and can't afford to make 2 version of your website then the flash will have to go so you can have one version that can be used by everyone.

Well I did ramble on a little. But my point? 97% vs 1.1% in it's self is nice. But who makes up that 1.1% is very important. Apple have shown you can strike it rich without having to dominate the market you are in. You just have to play your cards right. And if Adobe are smart they will do the same.

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To top it all, Jobs’ apparent underlying justification that Flash inherently cannot be made to work in the mobile environment – even on the iPad – is spurious.

Click to expand...

This is from the article linked. And it is simply not true. Jobs never said this and he also never hinted at it. He simply said iOS will have flash when it works, is stable and does not impact in battery life. And does all of those things to an Apple standard. And he also said at the moment flash does none of those things and in his opinion flash is not even close to doing them. But if they ever get flash up to a stand where it meets all those criteria then he'll reconsider it.

So the author of the article needs to get all of his facts straight.

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And +1 rep to Vansmith for posting a very interesting article. I have to spread it around before I give more to you.

And feel free to call me just Thee. On my World of Warcraft server my toon is called "theeighthark". No numbers are allowed in the name. And I just got called Thee there. And everyone here can feel free to do the same.