So for a while now Apple hasn’t allowed flash on the iPhone. And then they decided not to allow it on the iPad. Last month, Steve Jobs wrote an open letter explaining exactly why he thinks flash sucks for mobile devices. Then you get Adobe CTO, Kevin Lynch (played by Tobey Maguire) firing back with this response claiming Apple is trying to control the industry rather than optimize their technology.
To put it in junior high terms, Apple is the coolest girl in school and she’s throwing a party called the mobile internet and she didn’t even bother to invite flash. And, like oh my God, now they’re pulling each other’s hair in the cafeteria. Except millions of dollars and the future of your internet experience is at stake as opposed to Apple’s really great hair.
Now adobe has started running the weirdest banner campaign I’ve ever seen. Here’s some screenshots from wired.com.
Is anyone else not feeling the love here?
Steve Jobs’s ‘Notes On Flash,’ it might not be 100% accurate or truthful, but it’s thoughtful and makes persuasive, cogent arguments: Flash is a drain on battery life, it’s not designed for touchscreens, etc. and that’s why Apple’s not allowing it on their mobile devices.
These Adobe ads, though: ‘we love all platforms and devices,’ ‘we love authoring code only once’? Huh? Not only are these statements basically nonsense and complete misdirections, but they’re pretty far from the actual problem. What they want to say is, ‘we want Apple to let us sell Flash in their store.’ So ‘Apple are petty tyrants,’ ‘Apple need to loosen up,’ ‘What’s with Apple, anyway?’—that’s not good enough?
I don’t know how dumb they think their audience is, but I don’t think anyone’s falling for these hearts.
My favorite part of this whole epic: the proposed counter:
http://www.boingboing.net/2010/05/14/apple-responds-to-ad.html
Yes. But, Sam. Adobe said love. LOVE!
You can’t rationalize LOVE! LOVE IS NEVER ENDING! LOVE IS PRIMAL, ETERNAL. IT DOESN’T MAKE SENSE!!!
As a followup, here’s how flash does on the android:
http://www.wired.com/gadgetlab/2010/05/first-look-flash-android/
Not that anyone would ever buy a non-apple product or something…