Last spring, every person saw the Apple-Flash player feud start, however now it has ended. App programmers were just a little puzzled that Apple actually let up in their statement on Thursday to relax iPad and iPhone app restrictions on developing tools. Apple also explained its app approval regulations could be made public shortly, contributing to the shock. The Apple announcement didn’t mention Flash by name, but Adobe’s common app toolkit has become the flash point in Steve Jobs’ much maligned app authorization method. Adobe stock went up a ton following the Apple announcement hit news.
The Apple/Flash feud
Apple made a list of approved languages that iPhone and iPad apps could be made on, which is why last April, the Apple/Flash fight began. 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 made for one reason. It was designed to be a cross platform toolkit for other iPhone platforms as Adobe Flash. Steve Jobs didn’t like that idea. That has changed. It was different before. Thursday was the day things changed. It was all better. Developers only have to publish apps once and can run them on Apple’s iOS and Google’s Android.
Apple app approval process become public
The Apple app approval process has been changed a bit. It also is available to the public now. 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). Programmers had no idea if they had done something wrong in an app until they were given a rejection from Apple, until Thursday. Thousands of dollars used for making the app and months of time were wasted. Wired thinks that programmers do not care what all of these rules really are. Most of them just want to know what they’re to stay away from problems.
Why Apple made a different decision
There was no explanation from Apple as to why it is changing its mind about Adobe Flash and other third-party tools. It also didn’t say why it is releasing Store Review Guidelines. Bloggers are making decisions on what they think happened. Philip Elmer-DeWitt at Fortune is just one of these people. Developer feedback, regulation and competition are all possible choices. DeWitt says these are one of the most popular. He dismissed feedback straight away, given Apple’s history of forcing developers to bend to its whims. There is a good chance the Android-powered smartphones and Android tablets are part of this. Apple likely feels threatened by it all. The Federal Trade Commission has also been investigating Apple’s ban on cross-development platforms which happened with the Apple/Flash feud. Adobe, which complained to the FTC about Apple, seems to be getting what it wanted.
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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