Wired.com: “No Flash means that the iPhone browser is incapable of displaying a large portion of the internet.”
No Flash also means the iPhone or iPad for that matter is capable of avoiding a lot of issues that come with Flash. Besides, i don’t see “ads” as an interesting part of the Internet, next to games and streaming videos this is the third most widespread use of Flash on the Internet. The games wouldn’t work well anyhow on the iPad due to numerous issues (not designed for touchscreen, use too much memory, expect keyboard, bad performance) and the videos are at least partially supported via the Youtube app. I’ve said it before that the iPad doesn’t need Flash, and here i say why it shouldn’t.
There are actually good reasons for Apple not to support Flash on the iPad and many of those who desire Flash either haven’t realized that or chose to ignore them. So here’s a quick list for those who, instead of whining about the lack of Flash, would like to understand why there is no and will be no Flash for the iPad:
Flash Apps would undermine the App Store
This is the biggest issue from Apple’s business perspective. If any Flash app could run on the iPhone, any app would be possible including those that violate Apple’s Terms of Service. Flash apps would also be in direct competition to native apps, bypassing Apple’s but also competing developer’s revenue streams. Instead it would play in the hands of Flash portals, specifically gaming portals, and if you have to choose between the two and where you want to earn your money – i believe the App Store wins hands down.
Given enough will it would also be possible for companies to undermine iTunes as a whole by offering eBooks, music and video downloads. Apple is well aware of that danger and if one could remove all other concerns for Flash but this, Apple still wouldn’t allow Flash to run on the iPad/iPhone for that very reason. So if you’re hoping that eventually Flash will come to the iPad – forget it.
As it is now, websites who use Flash and are also targeting iPhone and iPad users would be well advised to develop their own native app if possibly. This in turn would strengthen the App Store, moreso the more popular that website is. Another gain for Apple.
There is no quality control for Flash Apps
Every App Store app must pass Apple’s quality control. As much as some may hate it, it’s good that this sort of quality control exists. It doesn’t mean that Apps can’t be total crap but at least a minimum set of standards for both content and user experience can be expected. Most notably offensive and malicious apps are much less likely to appear in the App Store than they are with Flash. Which brings us to the next point.
Security & Privacy concerns
It’s no secret that Flash brings with it security risks and privacy concerns. Not that anyone would care though. But maybe you care more about the next issue.
Flash performance
Well written Flash apps run rather well on most computers but it is also rather easy to overdo it and we still see particular Flash apps that don’t run smoothly even on multiple GHz computer. How would it scale down to a several hundred MHz system? Not very well. And while Adobe is currently porting Flash to the iPhone to allow developers to use Flash to develop native iPhone Apps, the performance numbers and developer’s experiences are discouraging to say the least.
And let’s not forget: many Flash apps are memory hogs – none of them have been optimized for devices that offer less than 100 MB of memory, let alone just around 35 MB at most on the iPhone. So how many Flash apps could you really use if the iPad supported Flash? I bet the number would shrink drastically and you’d be furious about Flash apps crashing frequently.
Yes, Flash apps also load incredible amounts of content and that comes from where? Correct, the Internet. So would you wait for minutes while on 3G or even EDGE for that matter? And then having it crash because it runs out of memory? It makes for a terrible user experience – and a lot of users will blame it on the device’s Flash support. So in that light no Flash is better than the best you can hope for, which would be: “Flash works in principle”.
Finally, Flash apps will drain your battery like any other iPhone app. If at all possible, Flash content would have to be started per user request instead of auto-loading as it does on computers as to avoid each and every ad to be a strain on the battery.
Flash games to this point are not designed for touchscreens
So forget the dream of playing all those Flash games if only the iPad would support Flash. While there are a good number of games that work with just one mouse button the rest of the games with keyboard support would simply be a waste of your time. And even for the one-click games it’s still doubtful they would work so well on a touch screen if only for the fact that your finger is much bigger than your mouse pointer which conceals the part of the screen you’re tapping on.
Further readings:
Venturebeat: Why the iPhone won’t have Flash anytime soon.
Wired: Why Apple Won’t Allow Adobe Flash on iPhone
Poking fun at Apple
Closing Words
I mentioned in my last iPad + Flash post that i’ve installed a FlashBlocker for Opera. Now every Flash app is a little “f” button that i have to click to play. Not surprisingly (to me at least) i found that 95% of the webpages i visit do not require Flash at all, or only show those nasty Flash ads which i didn’t even know are Flash based until i installed the Flash Blocker.
So what content am i really missing if i didn’t have any Flash? Well, for one i don’t see the stock market graph on Yahoo. Youtube videos obviously. The Zwoptex texture atlas generator i use for work. Slideshare may be of interest twice per year that i’d be missing out. Aaaaaaaand that’s about it. I can trade stocks, do online banking, research every bit of information i need, read news, stay up to date on sports, contribute to user communities via forums, chat and what not. All of this without native iPhone/iPad apps and without Flash obviously. So why is it such a big deal for so many people? I just don’t get it.
And then there’s a wise saying that certainly applies here: if you can’t do it right, don’t do it at all!
Gaming Horror - 
If the iPad is a success, be prepared for marketers to target the platform annoying HTML/JS ads.
As for privacy concerns, with Flash Player 10.1 hooks into the “private mode” that most new browsers support, disabling Local Shared Object (aka Flash cookies).
The majority of Flash games don’t support multitouch, but with all major smartphones companies supporting Flash Player 10.1, there’s likely going to be a number of sites out there which port Flash games to support multitouch.
I have a 3G modem for my laptop, which I use while commuting to work and have never had a problem ads or Flash content loading too slowly (however, this is in Canada with Bell rather than AT&T which has a notorious bad 3G support).
Also the new Flash Player 10.1 currently in beta, Adobe has managed to have huge cuts in CPU and memory used for existing Flash content. This is the result all the optimizations done to get the Flash Player on mobile devices. Kevin Lynch from Adobe is even claiming that with Flash Player using the new CoreAnimation API in Apple, that Flash Player on the Mac is faster in graphic rendering than Windows.
Plus, if Apple was really concerned about Flash content, they could implement a solution similar to Click2Flash, where Flash content is only activated when clicked on.
The reasons that Flash is not being included on the iPad are purely business related and have nothing to do with technical. With several other tablets from other companies coming out this year, that include Flash support (along with other missing iPad features like multitasking) we will have to wait and see if Apple made the right business decision.