Steve Jobs Issues "Thoughts on Flash" Manifesto

Since the iPad came out, there has been an ongoing debate about Apple’s refusal to allow Adobe Flash videos to run on iPods and the iPad. Until now, Apple had remained mum on the issue, even when self-described “Flash evangelist” and blogger Lee Brimelow told Apple to go screw itself over their refusal to adopt Flash software. Apple CEO Steve Jobs issued an open letter on his company’s website today titled Thoughts on Flash that details Apple’s reasoning behind barring the software from their gadgets.

The long letter provides a six-part explanation of Apple’s anti-Flash policy, and emphasizes that their reasoning is not based on business, but rather on technology. Among the reasons are Apple’s views that “all standards pertaining to the web should be open,” and Flash is a proprietary product only available from Adobe, giving Adobe all control over usage and pricing. Jobs also argues that his company favors the more modern video format H.264, and that though games using Flash software don’t work on iproducts, Apple makes up for that with the hundreds of games in Mac’s App Store.

In the letter, Jobs also slams Flash for having a bad security record and cites Flash as “the number one reason Macs crash.” He reasons that Flash is inefficient for battery life and not ideal for Apple’s signature touch-screen systems. But the most important reason the company won’t adopt the Adobe software is because, “Adobe also wants developers to adopt Flash to create apps that run on our mobile devices. We know from painful experience that letting a third party layer of software come between the platform and the developer ultimately results in sub-standard apps and hinders the enhancement and progress of the platform.”

Read the letter in full via Apple.com.

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