The Apple/Flash feud that started last spring seems to have run its course. Limits on tools developers use for iPhone and iPad apps are becoming more relaxed, Apple declared Thursday surprising numerous app programmers. Apple added an aftershock to its announcement, saying that it would make its mysterious app approval regulations public. Adobe’s popular app toolkit is now part of Steve Job’s app acceptance process even though Apple didn’t actually announce Flash was the reason for the change. Adobe stock went up a ton following the Apple announcement hit news.
The Apple/Flash feud
The Apple/Flash feud began last April when Apple announced that iPhone and iPad apps could only be written in one of a select few Apple-approved programming languages. Apple’s policy made it so Adobe Flash CS5 Flash Packager couldn’t be used on the iPhone and iPad. This comes from PC World. Flash Packager for iPhone was the anchor feature of Adobe CS5. It was intended to make Adobe’s Flash a cross-platform toolkit for the iPhone’s other successful platforms. Then there was Steve Jobs. He thought that was a terrible plan. That was before of course. All was better Thursday. Developers have it easy with Flash now. They can make apps to run on Apple’s iOS when publishing it once and also run it on Google’s Android.
Process for approving apps made public
Apple’s draconian app approval process has not only been modified, it is being made public. The Apple App Store Review Guidelines used to be secret rules that decided on whether or not the iPhone or iPad would allow the developer’s app to be used. Wired reports that uncertainty about App Store approval has been keeping lots of top flight development talent from creating iPhone and iPad apps and leading to a proliferation of “fart apps” (junk applications). Thursday excited many developers. This was because developers couldn’t know if they had done something wrong within the app until it came back from Apple rejected. Months of toil and thousands of dollars could possibly be flushed down the drain. Developers just want to know what the rules are, although what they are doesn’t really matter, says Wired.
Why Apple changed its tune
Apple didn’t say why it plans to make App Store Review Guidelines public along with letting app development be done by third party tools such as Adobe Flash. Bloggers are making decisions on what they think happened. Philip Elmer-DeWitt at Fortune is just one of these people. The leading theories, as outlined by DeWitt, are developer feedback, competition and regulation. He dismissed feedback straight away, given Apple’s history of forcing developers to bend to its whims. Competition from Android-powered smartphones and a coming wave of Android tablets no doubt makes Apple feel threatened. And finally, the Apple/Flash feud attracted the attention of the Federal Trade Commission, which has been investigating Apple’s ban on cross-development platforms. Adobe has received precisely what it prepared from Apple.
Additional reading
PC World
pcworld.com/article/205114/apple_lifts_app_store_approval_shroud_for_developers.html?tk=hp_new
Wired
wired.com/gadgetlab/2010/09/apple-lifts-app-store-flash-ban-publishes-app-review-rules/
Fortune
tech.fortune.cnn.com/2010/09/09/why-did-apple-lift-its-ban-on-flash/
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