iPad No Flash Is iPad Fail?

by Paul Colligan on February 23, 2010

The two biggest anti-iPad statements I get are “it’s just a big iPhone” and “no Flash, no iPad.”  We’ll deal with the second issue here.  I think only time will tell on that first one.

But I’ll tell you this, I wouldn’t run my business for 30 days only on an iPhone.

Yes, there is no Flash on the iPad tablet.  Whereas this means no Hulu (as we know it – I stand by my prediction that “Hulu 1/1/2010 will be dramatically different than Hulu 12/31/2010” it doesn’t mean no YouTube (HTML 5), or many of the other things we normally associate with Flash.

One of the things that really draws me to the iPad is the 10 HOURS OF BATTERY LIFE.  In short, you can’t do that with Flash, it’s a power and chip hog and in a desire to build a leaner machine (we’ll talk multitasking in another article), they took it out.

I really don’t think I’ll miss it, but only the experiment will tell.

What do you think?  Does the lack of Flash equal a fail?

Tagged as: Flash, hulu, ipad

  • calbanyan

    Will the iPad faile because of no Flash, I can't tell you about everyone else, but is a deal breaker for me. If it had Flash, I'd be first in line to get one. Without it, no thank you.

  • calbanyan

    Will the iPad faile because of no Flash, I can't tell you about everyone else, but is a deal breaker for me. If it had Flash, I'd be first in line to get one. Without it, no thank you.

  • http://www.douglassandquist.com Doug S

    Flash is probably going the way of firewire, floppy disks, and everything else that Steve Jobs is credited for killing… once people figure out that you can get espn videos on YouTube and youtube is available on the iPad… most sites have already figured out how to open up a non flash player for the iPhone… take TwitVids for example, looks like flash on a browser and the vids play on the iphone… if the iPad succeeds flash will have a hard time..

  • http://www.douglassandquist.com Doug S

    Flash is probably going the way of firewire, floppy disks, and everything else that Steve Jobs is credited for killing… once people figure out that you can get espn videos on YouTube and youtube is available on the iPad… most sites have already figured out how to open up a non flash player for the iPhone… take TwitVids for example, looks like flash on a browser and the vids play on the iphone… if the iPad succeeds flash will have a hard time..

  • paulcolligan

    Appreciate the comment – now I want to understand it. Why is Flash a dealbreaker?

  • paulcolligan

    Appreciate the comment – now I want to understand it. Why is Flash a dealbreaker?

  • paulcolligan

    Flash is a fascinating issue – and a classic example of having to / trying to attempt to do new things on old technology. A lot of people are invested in it – and will try to keep it going – despite lots of better offers and options.

  • paulcolligan

    Flash is a fascinating issue – and a classic example of having to / trying to attempt to do new things on old technology. A lot of people are invested in it – and will try to keep it going – despite lots of better offers and options.

  • http://wickwoodonline.com/ Steve Wickham

    Apple is promoting the iPad as the “best way to experience the web”. Without flash, I find that hard to believe. I recently had a lot of time away from Mac computers, and tried to use my iPhone to keep up and investigate things online. Over and over i kept landing on pages with content in Flash and Flash Video. Nearly everything I wanted to get done had to wait until I was on a more user friendly device.

    If it is going to be “best way to experience the web”, then Apple needs to conform to what the web is today and not try to force the rest of the world on to the iPad. You think they would learn from the lost market share to PC back in the 80s.

    It will be hard to justify buying one without access to everything on the internet and I don't really like the fact that Apple has taken it upon themselves to dictate to me what I have access to.

    And Paul, your the first one to say that Web 2.0 is the web on my terms. Does his mean Web 3.0 is on Apple's?

  • http://wickwoodonline.com/ Steve Wickham

    Apple is promoting the iPad as the “best way to experience the web”. Without flash, I find that hard to believe. I recently had a lot of time away from Mac computers, and tried to use my iPhone to keep up and investigate things online. Over and over i kept landing on pages with content in Flash and Flash Video. Nearly everything I wanted to get done had to wait until I was on a more user friendly device.

    If it is going to be “best way to experience the web”, then Apple needs to conform to what the web is today and not try to force the rest of the world on to the iPad. You think they would learn from the lost market share to PC back in the 80s.

    It will be hard to justify buying one without access to everything on the internet and I don't really like the fact that Apple has taken it upon themselves to dictate to me what I have access to.

    And Paul, your the first one to say that Web 2.0 is the web on my terms. Does his mean Web 3.0 is on Apple's?

  • http://wickwoodonline.com/ Steve

    Perhaps Paul you could explain what is the better technology than flash, especially for video on the web? I see people make this comment everywhere, but no one explains what is better and why?

    Nearly all video content that I access online today is using a Flash video player.

  • http://wickwoodonline.com/ Steve

    Perhaps Paul you could explain what is the better technology than flash, especially for video on the web? I see people make this comment everywhere, but no one explains what is better and why?

    Nearly all video content that I access online today is using a Flash video player.

  • http://www.douglassandquist.com Doug S

    Steve, well YouTube in a web browser displays in Flash.. but youTube videos play on the iPhone an on the iPad…. Flash will play many different types of formats, not just .flv it will play h.264 too… so if YouTube can deliver video that plays on all devices others should be able to also… I think the bigger challenge for the web world is games and rich media sites developed around flash.. some work and some are bothersome.. I know a few designers that like having flash for some elements of their design.. so they have to move to something else… Seesmic.com/web is a nice implementation of html5… html5 will fix most of the flash video players down the road…

  • http://www.douglassandquist.com Doug S

    Steve, well YouTube in a web browser displays in Flash.. but youTube videos play on the iPhone an on the iPad…. Flash will play many different types of formats, not just .flv it will play h.264 too… so if YouTube can deliver video that plays on all devices others should be able to also… I think the bigger challenge for the web world is games and rich media sites developed around flash.. some work and some are bothersome.. I know a few designers that like having flash for some elements of their design.. so they have to move to something else… Seesmic.com/web is a nice implementation of html5… html5 will fix most of the flash video players down the road…

  • paulcolligan

    I get what you're saying – and appreciate the comments here. I think I'll let them stand on their own.

  • paulcolligan

    I get what you're saying – and appreciate the comments here. I think I'll let them stand on their own.

  • paulcolligan

    It's the means wherebywhich we access that video that makes Flash such a dog. I have one of those evil netbooks that Steve chatted about. Hulu, in standard definition is all shaky and stuttery – but if I go to Fox.com and use their Java based (I think it's Java) video player, I can stream shows in HD with no problem.

    Flash uses way too much overhead and is using cycles it doesn't need to use and making us buy better machines that we don't need to buy.

    I'll tell you this, 10 hours is much more important to me than being able to watch Glee at Hulu.

  • paulcolligan

    It's the means wherebywhich we access that video that makes Flash such a dog. I have one of those evil netbooks that Steve chatted about. Hulu, in standard definition is all shaky and stuttery – but if I go to Fox.com and use their Java based (I think it's Java) video player, I can stream shows in HD with no problem.

    Flash uses way too much overhead and is using cycles it doesn't need to use and making us buy better machines that we don't need to buy.

    I'll tell you this, 10 hours is much more important to me than being able to watch Glee at Hulu.

  • BjornSM

    I ran my business on my iPhone for two weeks last summer, worked exquisitely, although I could have used LogMeIn remote to access my desktop Mac for some unusual things once or twice.

    Flash is a clunky battery, memory, and performance guzzler. For video (today, probably 99% of its use) there are better alternatives such as H.264 (which can also live in a Flash wrapper, so for the creator it is a no-brainer) and HTML5 for the player etc. functionality.

    One professional IT reviewer suggested the iPad would be a fail because he won't be able to plug in his USB-connected printer.

    I'm thinking that he was on to something here. But I really want to connect to TWO different printers, so if the iPad had a USB-port I guess I would have had to get two 20 foot cables (and a printer switch) to connect my iPad to these.

    Or are there wireless printers nowadays allowing you to connect wirelessly to any number of printers from the couch?

    (Answer: DUH!)

    Apple has made every choice mindfully.

    The only thing I don't understand yet is why they didn't put a forward-facing camera in version 1. This feature is coming (there is a control for it in the developer SDK), but apparently not immy.

  • BjornSM

    I ran my business on my iPhone for two weeks last summer, worked exquisitely, although I could have used LogMeIn remote to access my desktop Mac for some unusual things once or twice.

    Flash is a clunky battery, memory, and performance guzzler. For video (today, probably 99% of its use) there are better alternatives such as H.264 (which can also live in a Flash wrapper, so for the creator it is a no-brainer) and HTML5 for the player etc. functionality.

    One professional IT reviewer suggested the iPad would be a fail because he won't be able to plug in his USB-connected printer.

    I'm thinking that he was on to something here. But I really want to connect to TWO different printers, so if the iPad had a USB-port I guess I would have had to get two 20 foot cables (and a printer switch) to connect my iPad to these.

    Or are there wireless printers nowadays allowing you to connect wirelessly to any number of printers from the couch?

    (Answer: DUH!)

    Apple has made every choice mindfully.

    The only thing I don't understand yet is why they didn't put a forward-facing camera in version 1. This feature is coming (there is a control for it in the developer SDK), but apparently not immy.

  • paulcolligan

    I think we'll see new versions pretty quickly. Plus, who says Apple doesn't have a “one more thing…” for us a launch?

  • paulcolligan

    I think we'll see new versions pretty quickly. Plus, who says Apple doesn't have a “one more thing…” for us a launch?

  • SS

    Here's the major disconnect with the lack of flash: Corporate America!

    .SWF and .FLV are used extensively and almost exclusively for web-based training and meetings etc etc.

    So will the iPad, like Apple historically, be viewed as a non-business machine?

  • SS

    Here's the major disconnect with the lack of flash: Corporate America!

    .SWF and .FLV are used extensively and almost exclusively for web-based training and meetings etc etc.

    So will the iPad, like Apple historically, be viewed as a non-business machine?

  • paulcolligan

    Interesting point, but I wonder what percentage of IT decisions are made on the ability to view web-based trainings.

  • paulcolligan

    Interesting point, but I wonder what percentage of IT decisions are made on the ability to view web-based trainings.

  • rainydayinterns

    We gave it some thought…here is why we think Apple decided to not support Flash:
    http://www.rainydaymagazine.com/RDM2010/RainyDa…

    We think they are right.

  • rainydayinterns

    We gave it some thought…here is why we think Apple decided to not support Flash:
    http://www.rainydaymagazine.com/RDM2010/RainyDa…

    We think they are right.

  • http://www.wickwoodonline.com/ Steve

    I appreciate the helpful comments here, and would have commented sooner, but when I tried to comment from my iPhone I couldn't get the darn submit button from this Disqus to do anything! I was quite Disqusted!

    So I'll be very interested to hear if you have “the best web experience” with your iPad Paul and can actually go an entire month using nothing but it. I have my doubts. If it turns out to just be a giant iTouch, I think Apple will have missed the boat.

    I really hope that's not the case because I really could use a device like this if it really can do everything I need it to do now and not wait for Internet to catch-up.

    Which got me wondering why Apple doesn't make a browser that automatically plays flash video files if finds on webpage if all it takes is the right JavaScript Wrapper. ( http://paulirish.com/work/gordon/demos/ ) Perhaps they have and we'll see it with the launch of iPad.

    Thanks for forum Paul. It's a great place to let off steam and get rational feedback to keep me sane! (Maybe) LOL

    Steve

    P.S. Has InternetMarketingThisWeek.com become InternetMarketingThisMonth? I just discovered those podcasts and finished listening to all of them and then discovered they aren't coming out anymore. :-(

  • http://www.wickwoodonline.com/ Steve

    I appreciate the helpful comments here, and would have commented sooner, but when I tried to comment from my iPhone I couldn't get the darn submit button from this Disqus to do anything! I was quite Disqusted!

    So I'll be very interested to hear if you have “the best web experience” with your iPad Paul and can actually go an entire month using nothing but it. I have my doubts. If it turns out to just be a giant iTouch, I think Apple will have missed the boat.

    I really hope that's not the case because I really could use a device like this if it really can do everything I need it to do now and not wait for Internet to catch-up.

    Which got me wondering why Apple doesn't make a browser that automatically plays flash video files if finds on webpage if all it takes is the right JavaScript Wrapper. ( http://paulirish.com/work/gordon/demos/ ) Perhaps they have and we'll see it with the launch of iPad.

    Thanks for forum Paul. It's a great place to let off steam and get rational feedback to keep me sane! (Maybe) LOL

    Steve

    P.S. Has InternetMarketingThisWeek.com become InternetMarketingThisMonth? I just discovered those podcasts and finished listening to all of them and then discovered they aren't coming out anymore. :-(

  • paulcolligan

    First of all, Internet Marketing This Week is still strong – it's just hard to get 4 of us in 3 different time zones together. A new one should be coming soon.

    The flash thing on the iPad is going to be fascinating. But, in my gut I keep going back to the original iMac when they killed the floppy drive. They were right, it needed to be killed.

    Is the same true for flash?

  • paulcolligan

    First of all, Internet Marketing This Week is still strong – it's just hard to get 4 of us in 3 different time zones together. A new one should be coming soon.

    The flash thing on the iPad is going to be fascinating. But, in my gut I keep going back to the original iMac when they killed the floppy drive. They were right, it needed to be killed.

    Is the same true for flash?

  • Matthias_koebrich

    actually it's not about the ipad/ipad2 not being able to play flash content, but about apple's safari browser not supporting flash. there are a number of browser apps for the ipad/ipad2 that play flash content. e.g. “iswifter”. free app by the way. 
    so “no flash, no ipad”…mmmhhh…doesn't work :-)

  • paulcolligan

    great point

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