Flash support still elusive on iPad

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Flash support still elusive on iPad

By CAROLINE GABRIEL

Published: 1 February, 2010

Among various criticisms of the Apple iPad, one of the loudest is the continuing spurning of Adobe Flash. The stand-off between Apple and Adobe on the iPhone is well documented, but with the new tablet being touted as a video optimized product, the omission of the standard that underpins YouTube is more glaring.

Apple has argued that the mobile version of Flash is inadequate for the advanced multimedia usage encouraged by its iPhone, but this viewpoint has been undermined by the appearance of Flash 10, a mobile implementation of the fully fledged platform. There was high excitement that Flash support was imminent, when some promotional materials for the new device appeared to show it displaying Flash-based content including images from the web site of the New York Times, an iPad media partner. This material has since been withdrawn, noted blog AppleInsider.

Apple has not officially ruled out Flash support but Adobe and its supporters were increasingly vocal over the weekend about being left in the cold. Writing on the Adobe Flash Platform Blog, marketing group manager Adrian Ludwig said: "There's something important missing from Apple's approach to connecting consumers to content... Without Flash support, iPad users will not be able to access the full range of web content, including over 70% of games and 75% of video on the web. If I want to use the iPad to connect to Disney, Hulu, Miniclip, Farmville, ESPN, Kongregate or JibJab - not to mention the millions of other sites on the web - I'll be out of luck."

Developers can only get round the Flash stand-off by creating and exporting iPhone, iPod Touch and now iPad apps via the Flash Professional CS5 programming tool, which leverages the same source code used to deliver applications across desktops and devices.

Meanwhile, Macworld reports that the iPad will have its worldwide launch on March 26 and the Wi-Fi version will then be released at the end of April. It has also done some pricing calculations for the UK, based on the same US-UK differentials seen in the iPhone and other products. It came up with a range of £388 for the 16Gb Wi-Fi only model, to £693 for the 64Gb Wi-Fi plus 3G version.

Whatever the international pricing, the charging model is another area where Apple has been heavily criticized, for the $130 premium paid for a version including 3G connectivity. This subsidizes the lower than expected price tag for the Wi-Fi systems, claims observers, allowing Apple to make the iPad far more cost competitive than was widely expected. But the cost of including 3G is low with the 3G baseband itself coming in well below $10. Most analysts expect the bulk of sales to be for the Wi-Fi models, which come below the important psychological barrier of $500 and will be available earlier.