The iPad. Not So Flash. Geeks Are Moving Quick (Time) To Adopt Open Standards.

I sit in a sun drenched cafe idly pushing widgets around the screen, simultaneously staring at my reflection in my life-support machines wishing I too could have been sculpted by Jonathan Ive. But I'm confused and slightly irritated. Nothing new. It's certainly nothing the morning's Macchiacto and the sun can’t wash away. But my particular irritation this morning is becoming repetitive and it’s all about Flash.

Why is it that only a few of the uber-geek world, with all the power of social media at their blazing fingertips, haven’t screamed from their new virtual 3D rooftops in the Google World?

“WAKE UP. FLASH ON THE iPAD? NO… NO and NO AGAIN. GET IT RIGHT”

Sure, it isn't perfect; it’s missing a few inbuilt peripherals you'd like and the Star Trek functionality you envisaged has a glitch or two. However, when it comes to the absence of Flash, most people have got it all wrong. The key issues aren’t the corporate spats and market share argument the masses are throwing around, that shows a severe lack of technological understanding, it turns out Apple may be safeguarding the future of rich media content... 

Now before we start let me be clear about a few things:

• I’m deliberately keeping this simple... there are a few other more in depth analyses of the main problems.
• I’m not a Flash developer, but I dabble... I mostly use Swish these days as it’s far easier and I think it’s great.
• I’m not an Apple Fanboy, but mock any of my machines and you and I may have an issue. Capiche? Oh, except my ageing and predominantly blue-screened windows laptop!

The 'lack' of Flash support in the Apple iPad is reputed by many to be part of Apple's quest for global domination and a direct move on its competition. This may be partially true, I wouldn't want to speculate on this occasion, however there are more serious considerations when it comes to Flash and the iPad (and other touchscreens). It’s due to a lack of compatibility between flash and mobile device browsing and the proliferation of rich media content.

Did you know Flash doesn’t work on touchscreen devices!?

You’ve seen Flash working on Mobile devices? Really? Well you need to understand that wasn’t really Flash, it was Flash Lite and that’s different.

Flash Lite is a cut down version of the original Flash code that is run on mobile devices and it’s based on Actionscript2, not Actionscript3. Pointlessly geeky knowledge, but it's the main difference between the Flash you see running on your desktop and the mobile Flash Lite phones and mobile devices run. They work in slightly different ways, rendering content designed to be seen by Flash and Flash Lite enabled devices differently too. Strangely they aren't wholly compatible. As a consequence of the Flash/ Flash Lite technical jigsaw there are problems around some content designed for the web not running on mobile devices, which is a far bigger problem than it sounds.

Now, if the Flash vs. Flash Lite issue is rectified, then the key issue underpinning Flash and touchscreen problems isn’t going to go away. Now before you ask, it doesn’t have anything to do with the battery life, hardware, or processor… It’s something fundamental to Flash which makes it incompatible with the way the iPad and touchscreens are designed to work.

Flash and Flash Lite, for the sake of sanity lets just lump them both in as ‘Flash’, have a particular way of handling the ‘mouseover’ action, which is the way the mouse pointer on screen interacts with onscreen elements. It works fantastically on the desktop, but there is a fundamental flaw with the way touchscreens manage this. Think about the Flash sites you’ve seen while on your desktop or laptop, how about the games? Was there a mouse pointer of some sort? A traditional arrow pointer? A target symbol in a shooting game? In nearly every case there will have been!

Flash is typically coded to leverage interactive design concepts and this mostly manifests itself in its ability to distinguish between actions evoked from hovering over something on screen using a mouse pointer - the mouseover and actually clicking on it. Simple.

On a touchscreen however, pointing at something doesn't work. Have you ever seen a pointer on an iPhone or iPad? No. This is where the incompatibility lies. You can click easily enough creating some form of action on screen, but there is no way to achieve a mouseover event without a defined pointer. In fact it goes against the principles of usability that were used in the design of modern touch screen devices.

This Flash niggle can be overcome and  and Flash can be coded specifically for touchscreens to take the lack of pointer into account, but to make this problem disappear altogether and get flash running on touchscreen devices and desktops, you would need to recode nearly all Flash content on the web. It’ not going to happen and so the majority of rich media content in existence will annoyingly be rendered impotent. Do you want to spend time guessing which content will or won’t work on your mobile? Thought not!

Sure some very straight forward content like Flash videos could run fine, but Flash underpins and is so much more than just a video content delivery system. If you compound all of these technical issues with a general move towards ease of use for users and getting rich media content into the infosphere, it doesnt bode well.

In fact the future of web technology it seems will rely on, at least for now, Open Standards. The online industry is wandering slowly towards this openness and even behemoths like Google have adopted open standards and HTML5 which is somewhat pivotal as they are a leading light in the digital world. Flash you may have already deduced is not open.

Unlike a lot of media formats Flash limits media creation and distribution to a limited audience who need plugins to play content; it’s not a native browser compliant system. This could further underpin Apple's choice to omit Flash support and although opinions are divided on their motives, QuickTime and other Apple technology is becoming undeniably open in support of the general industry move.

It’s not a simple topic, but Morgan Adams and Dan Eran Dilger have even geekier articles on the specifics of Flash touchscreen problems and the future of Flash on touchscreen devices if you want to have a look.

So, has Apple made an informed choice by not adding Flash/Flash Lite support to the iPad? Like many other geek entrepreneurs I would have to say, hell yeah. The pioneers of touchscreen web technology have consciously drawn a line in the sand to protect themselves and their users from the Flash content time bomb simulateneously adding their support to the future of browser friendly rich media content. Despite all this though...I don't expect I'll own this new miracle of portability until there's a webcam!

Comments

[Luke Cottam]

Great article Gavin,

just out of interest, what are the "more" technical reasons behind the lack of flash on iPhone/iPad?

Hope your well mate.

[G]

Hi Luke.

There are only a few resources on this... but a more detailed explanation on ipad and flash technical issues can be found here....

Apple and touchscreen Flash Issues

G

[Brittney Barker]

You've done it once more. Great writing!