Adobe Max is online
Just wanted to share a link to the Adobe Max keynote. Even if you are not into web development, i truly think you will get something out of watching it.
Nobody beats the ecosystem
Now, a week later Mike Chambers, Manager of the Adobe flash platform, posts on his blog that Adobe will stop iPhone support in future versions in Flash CS, and the guys over at Unity post on their blog that the future seems uncertain for the Unity framework (possibly the best 3D framework for the iPhone).
In various blog posts around, there’s a lot of speculation on why Apple suddenly changed the terms. Even one guy claims the Steve Jobs replied his email.
But one thing stands in the clear. Apple wants the iPhone platform for themselves. And I’m pretty sure they will get it like that. All by themselves. Alone.
Still today, no companies have created an actual business critical mobile application. And the motivation for doing so has weakened dramatically, now the cross platform paradigm has died (one application for all mobile phones). This leaves the Apple app store for small silly games and whatever you can create as a developer for kicks and fun. But it leaves no room for the enterprise that wants to build a business on mobile application technology.
So when I, as a consultant have to guide our clients in how to leverage on mobile platforms, I have to say where the money in best spend, and with a framework where your needs can grow and your business can expand. And Apple just eliminated themselves from that position.
So who is gaining from this quest? Well it’s not going to be Apple in the long term. Of that I’m certain. Adobe has no devices to sell, even though they might have the best framework in AIR 2.0. That leaves Google and Android as the only player with the strength and weight to lead the way for the ecosystem. So as long as Google does not mess it up like Apple did, it’s clear that the Android platform has the best odds and is fittest for surviving as the first choice platform for the ecosystem. Apple seems to have forgotten that choosing a “starting platform“ from where you base application is originated, isn’t hardly a business decision for a CEO. This decision is much more likely to happen within the team of developers and is driven by leaders of the ecosystem. Nobody beats the ecosystem.
Mobile cross platform died with Apple and the iPhone
Yesterday Apple launched the 4.0 release of their operating system for for the iPhone.
A great update to the popular mobile phone enabling multitasking and other new features.
However, nobody seemed to notice the small, but significant change in the license agreement section 3.1.1.
Previously the line read:
3.3.1 — Applications may only use Documented APIs in the manner prescribed by Apple and must not use or call any private APIs.
The line now reads:
3.3.1 — Applications may only use Documented APIs in the manner prescribed by Apple and must not use or call any private APIs. Applications must be originally written in Objective-C, C, C++, or JavaScript as executed by the iPhone OS WebKit engine, and only code written in C, C++, and Objective-C may compile and directly link against the Documented APIs (e.g., Applications that link to Documented APIs through an intermediary translation or compatibility layer or tool are prohibited).
So why the buzz.? Basically the one major reason mobile development is so tricky, is you have to create one unique application for almost each phone on the marked. So it is nothing like developing applications for the browser, where you can create one application and that will work in most browsers.
The mobile developers have to create a brand new application from scratch for almost every type of mobile phone out there. Both time consuming, expensive and just plain stupid.
And naturally software vendors around the globe started facilitating tools for developers that allows you to create one mobile application that will work on several mobile phones. A great initiative for everybody, both developers, clients, technology and world peace. :-)
However, Apple seems to disagree. With the new OS for the iPhone the conditions has changed. Apple insists that applications for the iPhone have to be specifically made to the Apple platform.
This will without a doubt result in furious 3.party software houses that overnight loses their entire business, and it is a serious breach in the ecosystem that binds the application community together.
But Apple must be thinking they can effort it. Cutting off the 3.party ecosystem, also means cutting off potential new clients and new projects. The Apple app store is overfilled with software, however only a few of the applications has actual value. One of the most downloaded apps from the app store is still the “flashlight” that turns your iPhone into a flashlight by lighting up the display. Hardly an application we can’t live without.
My point is, we are only in the beginning of the new mobile age, and Apple already thinks they own the thing. It is crucial for everybody in the business, to keep the ecosystem intact, despite the challenges and fight for marked shares. Maybe today apple has the most successful app store. But it is most unlikely that the rest of the industry will sit on their hand doing nothing about it.
What Apple thinks is a clever shortcut to maintaining their marked shares, can easily be a foolish short sighted act. You just can’t build a new ecosystem overnight, and burning your bridges once, causing the 3.party vendors tremendous pain, does not go unforgotten.
I sincerely hope Apple will change this section 3.1.1 back to the original conditions. It’s shortsighted, and it will haunt Apple forever forward.
Google indexerer flashfiler med Ichabod headless player
For nogle måneder siden strikkede Adobe en såkaldt “headless” flash player sammen, kodenavn : “Ichabod” (Ichabod er navnet på den hovedløse ridder i Washington Irvings fortælling “The Legend of Sleepy Hollow”).
Google har sammen med Adobe benyttet den seneste tid på, at få Googles spider til at crawle swf-filer med Ichabod headless flash player, og det ser nu ud til at være lykkedes.
Ichabod er i stand til at interagere med flash applikationer på lignende måde som et menneske ville gøre. Hvilket måske ikke umiddelbart lyder overvældende eller banebryddende, men er et kæmpe fremskridt frem for tidligere metoder for indexering af swf-formatet, så som “swf2html” der altså indtil fornylig var et at de eneste alternativer for søgemaskinernes indexering af flash formatet.
Med Ichabod træder flash ind i de voksnes rækker, hvad angår SEO, og det vil nu ikke længere være et “No-go” at præsentere forrertningskritisk content i flash player, og “frygten” for at de dyrt indkøbte rige internet applikationer, ikke vil blive indexeret er ikke længere noget vi behøver tænke på i samme udstrækning. Spørgsmålet er bare, hvor høj en pagerank google selv vil takserer flash/Ichabod content vs. html content. Det må tiden vise…
En interessant techvideo viser på youtube en test af både swf2html og Ichabod.
Andriod runs Flash
I recently found this video clip that I would like to share. I shows how good/bad Flash player performs on the Google Nexus One smart phone.
The video is from a site called androidandme.com, and is not an Adobe powered site. And as you can see, Flash player is enabled in the browser on the Android smart phone. Maybe not with the same strength of a desktop computer, but I don’t think anyone would expect that.
The Flash player installed on the Nexus phone is still in beta for the future release of Flash player 10.1. But to sum up on some of my previous posts, this proves that flash player can run on smart phones, and that the “war” between Apple and Adobe does not revolve around performance, battery life or any other technical matter.