iPhone Flash / Java Ruling Highlights Weakness in Apple Strategy
An iPhone TV advertisement has just been banned in the UK. At issue was Apple’s claim that iPhone can access “all parts of the Internet”. The UK Advertising Standards Authority (ASA) upheld complaints that pointed out that this was not true, because iPhone cannot view web-sites that incorporate applets running under technologies such as Flash or Java. The ASA ruled that Apple’s ad “gave a misleading of the Internet capabilities of the iPhone.” Apple tried to argue (somewhat bizarrely, I have to say) that they never said it could access all parts of the Internet correctly, just that it could technically access them even if it couldn’t render them. Crazy stuff!
This ruling highlights a strategic mistake that Apple is currently making with iPhone. Rather than push to make iPhone the world’s most capable mobile device for running Flash and Java, Apple is doing everything it possibly can to avoid supporting these kind of virtual machines on the iPhone. Apple’s SDK license agreement states explicitly that:
“An Application may not itself install or launch other executable code by any means, including without limitation through the use of a plug-in architecture, calling other frameworks, other APIs or otherwise. No interpreted code may be downloaded and used in an Application except for code that is interpreted and run by Apple’s Published APIs and built-in interpreter(s).”
The raison d’être behind this clause is clear. Contrary to what people have argued in the comments of a previous post, Apple is trying to keep the iPhone as closed as it possibly can. This is a losing strategy. Operating under a losing strategy (like the company’s previous “no third-party app” strategy) is not sustainable. Apple will, therefore, be forced into changing its position on this, just as it changed its position on third-party app development. The right strategy is to accept that both Java and Flash are useful technologies; and that the way to win is to have the most compelling mobile implementations on iPhone.
Asam Bashir wrote:
You can have your Java and Flash on your Android phone, we still don’t want it on the iPhone thanks. And iPhones will continue to sell. Not helping Adobe in it’s plans sounds fine to me, and why do you keep blaming Apple for lack of Flash? It’s up to Adobe to come up with a light-weight stand alone Flash player for iPhone and Apple are happy yo host it as a free app, along with all the others…
Posted 02 Sep 2008 at 11:52 pm ¶
Asam Bashir wrote:
By the time Java, Flash and other rich content applications become essential for web activity, iPhone will have moved on to running Intel Atom and be capable enough to run full blown Snow Leopard, the MacBook Tablet with an alternative screen source, is the future iPhone in 2010, and the converged device that’s been dreamt of by the mobile industry. Just two key pieces missing, production ethanol cells and other video display technology, foldable paper display, consumer retina projection, or halographic…
Posted 03 Sep 2008 at 5:49 am ¶
simon wrote:
I want a phone with a web browser than can view any web-site I care to visit; not with a browser that can’t render many sites properly. I don’t think it’s too much to ask.
Posted 04 Sep 2008 at 1:11 am ¶
Asam Bashir wrote:
Seems Adobe have listened and responded as this should have done, with a Flash player built specifically for iPhone. It’s being checked out by Apple at the moment to make sure it conforms to OS X standards and if all is well you should get your Flash content on iPhone in the very near future.
Again, your whole post was attacking Apple when in fact it was something for Adobe to deal with as they have now done.
Posted 01 Oct 2008 at 8:46 pm ¶
simon wrote:
My post was pointing out that Apple was judged to be misleading consumers with its advertising; and that Apple is trying to keep the iPhone as closed as it can. It wasn’t an attack on Apple. I was pointing out the company is making strategic mistakes.
You know, like it was making a mistake with its NDA for the iPhone SDK, which I pointed out, and which the company has now just dropped (after finally figuring out it was a bad idea).
As to the Flash issue, let’s be clear: Apple has not yet seen the light in terms of allowing runtimes, virtual machines etc. to be developed for the iPhone platform. Why? Because the company wants to own the whole pie when it comes to third-party applications.
It would be a major step forward for Apple if they allowed Flash content to play on iPhone (let’s see how this works out in practice). But they’re being dragged along here, rather than trying to run out in front. Apple is leaving the door wide open for its competition to leapfrog it.
Posted 02 Oct 2008 at 9:53 am ¶
Asam Bashir wrote:
Apple will allow it if Adobe has followed the rules given to all iPhone developers, I don’t understand what Apple needs to open for Adobe to have made a simple and elegant Flash Player for iPhone. Others have obeyed the rules and selling lots of quality applications, don’t see why Adobe can’t maintain that quality, it’s got a big enough Mac development team.
We still don’t want Java. Yes the company wants to own the whole pie, because it does which is why we pay Apple for it’s products.
Anyway, just when is the Java FX phone shipping, and have you pre-ordered your Android phone yet?
Posted 02 Oct 2008 at 11:06 pm ¶
simon wrote:
A Flash runtime would break the terms of the iPhone SDK license agreement. Apple will need to make a special exception to allow Flash on iPhone. Of course, it’s in Apple’s interests to allow Flash on iPhone; so the only question is whether Apple’s decision makers understand this.
I think you miss the point of the problem of Apple maintaining exclusive control of application deployment on iPhone. The consequence of this is that a software company could sink a huge amount of money into development of an iPhone application; and Apple could wipe out that investment in a second by not allowing the app to be deployed. That makes the iPhone platform less valuable to Apple than it would be if App Store was a non-exclusive app distribution mechanism. Apple fails to understand this, just as it failed to understand that the iPhone developer NDA was a bad idea.
JavaFX Mobile ships Spring 2009. Because of near universal adoption by the mobile industry, by the end of 2009 there will be hundreds of millions more JavaFX Mobile phones in the market than there will be iPhones or Android phones. Of course, that doesn’t mean it will be any good! We’ll just have to wait and see how well it works.
The Android platform is promising; but the first device is fugly and has a bizarre feature set linked tightly to Google. Not interested in it at this point.
Posted 03 Oct 2008 at 6:57 am ¶
Asam Bashir wrote:
Apple makes rules, provides guidlines and detailed information in the iPhone SDK. Now if a developer builds an app, and fails to read the rules Apple has laid down for it’s platform, I’m not sure how the developer can blame Apple for wasting it’s time. If you don’t agree with the rules, don’t make the app and waste your time.
I’ll start taking JavaFX seriously, the very day you show me a killer app that I cannot manage to be without. Until then all I can offer regarding JavaFX is a *yawn*
Posted 04 Oct 2008 at 5:06 pm ¶
simon wrote:
Apple can decide not to allow an app into the App Store for *any* reason, including reasons it chooses not to share with developers. That creates risk, and with the iPhone platform there’s no way to mitigate that risk. It’s binary outcome – either a iPhone app is allowed into the App Store, or it doesn’t exist.
For any given iPhone application, developers have to assess the risk/reward ratio in terms of the app not getting distribution vs the potential benefits from getting distribution. The answers will be different for each case.
As for JavaFX Mobile, there’s clearly a long way to go. As a first step, we have to see what the full JavaFX Desktop looks like when it’s released (I guess that will be in November). Currently, there’s a huge issue with lack of tooling for JavaFX; and it’s not clear to me that there will be much adoption until the JavaFX design tool is completed.
Posted 05 Oct 2008 at 1:48 pm ¶
Collier Buffington wrote:
Okay Asam, here is your first killer app expressly not supported on the iPhone because of the no-Flash policy. Today in the U.S. UC Berkeley released its free, cell-phone based traffic monitoring and reporting system. You can get the details at traffic.Berkeley.edu. As a Bay Area resident I can assure you is far more valuable than 99.99999 percent of the garbage available in the app store. To quote the system requirements: “On November 10, only Nokia and non-Nokia mobile phones and devices that support Java applications and use GSM carriers are compatible.”
Posted 10 Nov 2008 at 4:49 pm ¶
simon wrote:
Collier, Yes – there were always going to be cases where projects would choose Java ME as their primary development platform. This is a really good example.
It’s interesting that people are starting to complain about the average quality of apps in the app-store, and about how Apple’s exclusive, tight control of app distribution encourages “crapware” over interesting apps.
This is a good example of the reason why. What if this project team had decided to make the iPhone their primary development platform (as unlikely as that would be, given some of the project patners!)? They could have invested time and money developing the system, only to have Apple reject the app at the last minute, saying they don’t want it on iPhone.
The consequence’s of Apple’s third-party strategy could end up being pretty bad news for the iPhone platform.
Posted 10 Nov 2008 at 6:58 pm ¶
Mike wrote:
One big reason I will never own an iPhone… guys like Asam Bashir and the attitude of the Apple heads. I can’t believe the smugness and near-sightedness of his comments on this thread!
Posted 25 Nov 2008 at 11:57 pm ¶
Mark wrote:
Asam, It seems very strange for you to say “We don’t want Java on iPhone”. Who are you referring to when you say “we”? Users love choice and would be thrilled to have the option of running all of the Java software that is available on their iPhones. Most developers love Java because it allows them to easily write applications that run on a large number of devices. Why are you afraid of Java on the iPhone? Perhaps you are a developer who is afraid of competing with thousands of Java developers that just might create better software than yours in a shorter period of time.
Posted 06 Dec 2008 at 1:59 am ¶
Gary wrote:
I am somewhat of an Apple head as someone put it, I really like there products but there aren’t perfect.
Yes we do want Java / JavaFX and Flash on the iPhone, we want it all.
We want an open and rich platform that allows developers (which I am) the ability to create useful and rich multi-platform applications that allow desktop and mobile data to be shared.
Apple has control as that’s what Apple wants and while the phone sells and the apps are selling it’s not changing, when these things slow down they will introduce Java and Flash to get sales moving again, thats business. Why give everything all at once when you want sales to grow continuously.
Asam you need to stop being a Apple Fan boy so much and look at the bigger picture. I used to be like that and it gets you nowhere.
Posted 31 Dec 2008 at 12:41 pm ¶