iPhone gets 'kosher' Flash workaround

 

Safari add-on remotely renders Flash content.

Apple has approved a new Safari add-on made by US company Skyfire that will make all Flash video viewable on the iPhone, iPod Touch and iPad. 

The US$2.99 app will solve a massive problem for Apple mobile device users who have previously been slapped with an error message when confronted with Adobe Flash format video. 

Apple boss Steve Jobs has made a point of barring Adobe Flash from the iPhone. Earlier this year Jobs wrote an essay explaining why he maintained the block, citing security and the fact that Adobe was a "closed proprietary" system. 

"Rather than use Flash, Apple has adopted HTML5, CSS and JavaScript - all open standards," he wrote in April. 

Skyfire CEO Jeffrey Glueck said his company had to do a bit of "engineering magic" to bridge the gap between Apple and Adobe. 

The "magic", said Glueck, was that it wouldn't put Flash on the device because that's "not kosher". 

The company got around the obstacle by taking Flash files that a user attempts to view and remotely rendering them on the go into the Apple-approved HTML5 format. 

"It's a browser for the iPhone that solves that pesky problem when you encounter a Flash video and you get that 'Flash missing' error message and you can't watch it," he told CNN Money on Monday.  

"We're bringing a technology - a browser - that allows you to see all those videos which we translate in to Apple-approved formats on the fly so that you can on your iPod Touch or iPhone see billions of videos that were previously unavailable."   

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iPhone gets 'kosher' Flash workaround
"Oh yeah because Jobs is an expert on "closed proprietary systems"."
By legless
 
 
 
Comments: 4
Schikitar
Nov 3, 2010 4:19 PM
"Earlier this year Jobs wrote an essay explaining why he maintained the block, citing security and the fact that Adobe was a "closed proprietary" system."

Pot. Kettle.
funkyg
Nov 3, 2010 6:19 PM
This article doesn't really give you the full picture. In fact the app works by rendering flash VIDEO into html5. I'm guessing it just strips the flash wrapper of it! Essentially though this is for flash video only and won't work with flash sites.

Seems to me that this is essentially solving a problem that isn't really there anymore as most sites supply other format videos for iPhone and iPad users anyway. Now if it really was flash files....
Johnny
Nov 5, 2010 9:44 AM
I really dont find many sites that i really need flash to view.

what i do notice is that most advertisements are flash so theres no bloody point having them waste bandwidth and display on the iphone screen.
legless
Apr 19, 2011 9:50 AM
Oh yeah because Jobs is an expert on "closed proprietary systems".
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