One of the most interesting discussions going on in the it-world at this moment is Apple vs. Adobe. And I am still betting on Adobe, although it is absolutely the underdog in this fight at this moment. But there is something else going on what most people do not realize.
A lot of people, who were in favor of the Apple decision, have told me that the iPod/iPhone/iPad is a proprietary technology from Apple, and Apple has all the right to allow what they want on their platform. And that is absolutely true. I do agree with this. Apple is allowed to ban Flash from the apps, the whole App store and development can be completely directed by Apple as they wish.
The problem is, we are not talking about an App here. The app is Safari or the Opera browser. And Apple says that they provide a solid and broad internet experience, and this is where the problem comes in. Because they do not. They actually prevent flash websites to be shown. And if this was only on the Safari browser, it still would be fine, but Opera is also not allowed to install an Opera-compatible plug-in for flash, while all kinds of other plug-ins are freely available.
That is where the problem is. Apple tries to enforce a certain web-experience, and that is non-flash. And there is no room open for discussion. As I told earlier, you are allowed to install all kinds of energy-consuming and insecure other apps and plug-ins, just not the Flash one.
And it should not be tolerated that one single person or company can tell you what or what not to do on the internet. And if they do, they should allow other browsers to be built who then can. That is how it works with any internet-browsing device.
Somehow I do not understand why we all complain about China's censorship but allow a sort-like thing here to happen too.
This is why I think Adobe will be the winner in the end. Because just like how Apple tried to defend the DRM in iTunes, there is always one moment that another company offers a solution. In DRM it was Amazon, and on the smart-mobile market it looks like Android 2.2 might be another force to look out for, who actually does allow the flash player.
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