There was an Apple/Flash fight that started last spring. Restrictions on tools developers use for iPhone and iPad apps are becoming more relaxed, Apple announced Thursday shocking numerous app developers. Apple added an aftershock to its announcement, saying that it would make its mysterious app approval regulations public. Apple didn’t say that Flash would be used now in Steve Jobs’ announcement, but now Adobe’s common app toolkit is available. Adobe can thank Apple for sending its stock soaring on the news.
The Apple/Flash feud
The Apple/Flash feud started last April when Apple declared that iPhone and iPad apps could only be written in one of a select few Apple-approved programming languages. PC World reports that Apple’s policy excluded Adobe Flash CS5 Flash Packager for iPhone and iPad. Flash Packager for iPhone was the anchor feature of Adobe CS5. It was designed to make Adobe’s Flash a cross-platform toolkit for the iPhone’s other successful platforms. But Steve Jobs would have none of it. That has changed. It was different before. Thursday was the day things changed. It was all better. Now developers can use Flash to build an app that runs on both Apple’s iOS and Google’s Android, when only having to publish it once.
Apple app approval process become public
The Apple app approval process has been changed a bit. It also is accessible to the public now. . Wired reports that uncertainty about App Store approval has been keeping a lot of top flight development talent from creating iPhone and iPad apps and leading to a proliferation of “fart apps” (junk applications). Thursday excited many programmers. This was because developers couldn’t know if they had done something wrong in the app until it came back from Apple rejected. Months of toil and thousands of dollars could possibly be flushed down the drain. Developers just want to know what the rules are, although what they are doesn’t really matter, says Wired.
Why Apple made a different decision
Apple didn’t say why it plans to make App Store Review Guidelines public along with letting app development be done by third party tools for instance Adobe Flash. This lack of detail has led to speculation by bloggers like Philip Elmer-DeWitt at Fortune. The leading theories, as outlined by DeWitt, are developer feedback, competition and regulation. Since Apple typically makes programmers do whichever it wants, he didn’t think it’d be the option of feedback. Competition from Android-powered smartphones and a coming wave of Android tablets no doubt makes Apple feel confronted. The Apple/Flash feud has caused an investigation by the Federal Trade Commission on Apple. It is investigating the ban on cross-development platforms by Apple. Adobe, which complained to the FTC about Apple, seems to be getting what it wanted.
Additional reading
PC World
pcworld.com/article/205114/apple_lifts_app_store_approval_shroud_for_developers.html?tk=hp_new
Wired
wired.com/gadgetlab/2010/09/apple-lifts-app-store-flash-ban-publishes-app-review-rules/
Fortune
tech.fortune.cnn.com/2010/09/09/why-did-apple-lift-its-ban-on-flash/
