Apple Blocks Flash from the iPhone (again)
While this may seem like a repeat story, there was actually a little jewel buried in the terms of service for developers adopting version 4 of the iPhone OS, as they discovered last week. Specifically, the new agreement forbids applications developed in languages other than those used by Apple or using different development tools than Apple’s own Xcode from being deployed on the iPhone or iPad.
While nobody is calling asking for my reaction, I had blogged about this before and felt awkward not at least posting some thoughts about it.
Here is the post by John Gruber which started the melée: New iPhone Developer Agreement Bans the Use of Adobe’s Flash-to-iPhone Compiler
He followed this with with a longer piece where he tried to think of the logic for and against such a move – worth a read, if you are interested: Why Apple Changed Section 3.3.1
This immediately set off a furor on the internet as it squarely prohibits Adobe from releasing the much discussed Flash to iPhone translator. The product was part of the CS 5 suite slated to ship shortly and Adobe was understandably furious, personal blogs of Adobe executives were almost venomous.
Amazingly, Steve Jobs himself responded to a disappointed developer’s email, endorsing Gruber’s speculation as to Apple’s rationale with a terse but pointed response:
“We think John Gruber’s post is very insightful and not negative: http://daringfireball.net/2010/04/why_apple_changed_section_331 Steve”
In brief, Apple’s position is that any developer tools which differ from Apple’s canonical Xcode and use of programming languages therein allowed, leads to inferior products and user experience. Understandably, developers chafe when told what tools they have to use for their craft. While it is obvious that requiring developers to use Apple tools helps keep applications from being made simultaneously available on multiple platforms and helps maintain Apple’s lead,
I think this is a short-sighted understanding of the underlying strategy. Developers flocked to the iPhone platform in massive numbers in just 12 months, they can leave just as fast.
Apple has a very strong interest in controlling the manner in which applications are developed. They are very strict that any calls to the operating system (API’s) be made only according to published guidelines and they are miserly on transitioning “private” APIs to public. In return, what Apple gets is the freedom to radically transform the platform underneath the applications – without the application base suddenly breaking apart. This is how, for example, they can bring in multitasking with only a minor ruffle to most apps or how they can reasonably claim 150k apps that worked on one device, the iPhone, will work on a brand new device, the iPad.
This is a major strategic asset, the effect of its absence can be seen on the windows platform where Microsoft has been shackled by its long tail of application incompatibilities, costing it years to make even evolutionary revisions to it’s operating system (see: Vista)
I am certainly disappointed that EHR vendors will not be quickly transitioning their Flash based user interfaces soon to my iPad. While much of the commentary has been based on catchy depictions of parking lot brawls between companies, it seems to me that each entity is more likely acting on its own long term strategic interests.
Update, 4/13/10
Dan Grigsby of MobileOrchard.com has had enough and has very publicly and passionately announced he is stopping iPhone development as well as shutting down his iPhone dev website. This is even more remarkable than Joe Hewitt quitting the platform the last time Apple made a heavy-handed move because Grigsby makes his living teaching iPhone developer courses, and his site and podcast were very informative and well received. He says he is taking a principled stand against an “ask permission” system which drains creativity.
It feels like Apple is just not interested in the hackers and small dev shops that are doing interesting projects on the edge. It was fun to hear about the programmer who ported a Lua translator to iPhone so he can write quickly write apps using an interpreted programming language. This was the cool stuff you heard on Dan Grigsby’s podcast. This does not make Apple money, though. They are looking for the brand name corporate titles, like Electronic Arts to support the platform while fighting back against Android by rapidly bringing in new features. Unceremoniously shedding small independent developers is just collateral damage.
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Apple Blocks Flash from the iPhone (again)
While this may seem like a repeat story, there was actually a little jewel buried in the terms of service for developers adopting version 4 of the iPhone OS, as they discovered last week. Specifically, the new agreement forbids applications developed in languages other than those used by Apple or using different development tools than Apple’s own Xcode from being deployed on the iPhone or iPad.
While nobody is calling asking for my reaction, I had blogged about this before and felt awkward not at least posting some thoughts about it.
Here is the post by John Gruber which started the melée: New iPhone Developer Agreement Bans the Use of Adobe’s Flash-to-iPhone Compiler
He followed this with with a longer piece where he tried to think of the logic for and against such a move – worth a read, if you are interested: Why Apple Changed Section 3.3.1
This immediately set off a furor on the internet as it squarely prohibits Adobe from releasing the much discussed Flash to iPhone translator. The product was part of the CS 5 suite slated to ship shortly and Adobe was understandably furious, personal blogs of Adobe executives were almost venomous.
Amazingly, Steve Jobs himself responded to a disappointed developer’s email, endorsing Gruber’s speculation as to Apple’s rationale with a terse but pointed response:
In brief, Apple’s position is that any developer tools which differ from Apple’s canonical Xcode and use of programming languages therein allowed, leads to inferior products and user experience. Understandably, developers chafe when told what tools they have to use for their craft. While it is obvious that requiring developers to use Apple tools helps keep applications from being made simultaneously available on multiple platforms and helps maintain Apple’s lead,
I think this is a short-sighted understanding of the underlying strategy. Developers flocked to the iPhone platform in massive numbers in just 12 months, they can leave just as fast.
Apple has a very strong interest in controlling the manner in which applications are developed. They are very strict that any calls to the operating system (API’s) be made only according to published guidelines and they are miserly on transitioning “private” APIs to public. In return, what Apple gets is the freedom to radically transform the platform underneath the applications – without the application base suddenly breaking apart. This is how, for example, they can bring in multitasking with only a minor ruffle to most apps or how they can reasonably claim 150k apps that worked on one device, the iPhone, will work on a brand new device, the iPad.
This is a major strategic asset, the effect of its absence can be seen on the windows platform where Microsoft has been shackled by its long tail of application incompatibilities, costing it years to make even evolutionary revisions to it’s operating system (see: Vista)
I am certainly disappointed that EHR vendors will not be quickly transitioning their Flash based user interfaces soon to my iPad. While much of the commentary has been based on catchy depictions of parking lot brawls between companies, it seems to me that each entity is more likely acting on its own long term strategic interests.
Update, 4/13/10
Dan Grigsby of MobileOrchard.com has had enough and has very publicly and passionately announced he is stopping iPhone development as well as shutting down his iPhone dev website. This is even more remarkable than Joe Hewitt quitting the platform the last time Apple made a heavy-handed move because Grigsby makes his living teaching iPhone developer courses, and his site and podcast were very informative and well received. He says he is taking a principled stand against an “ask permission” system which drains creativity.
It feels like Apple is just not interested in the hackers and small dev shops that are doing interesting projects on the edge. It was fun to hear about the programmer who ported a Lua translator to iPhone so he can write quickly write apps using an interpreted programming language. This was the cool stuff you heard on Dan Grigsby’s podcast. This does not make Apple money, though. They are looking for the brand name corporate titles, like Electronic Arts to support the platform while fighting back against Android by rapidly bringing in new features. Unceremoniously shedding small independent developers is just collateral damage.
Like this: