As a fan of the iPhone, I have always had one problem with the device: its inability to display reach media contents, namely flash applications. Other articles on the web has stated some of the reasons why flash will not exist on iPhone, including battery life, security flaws, memory insufficiency and the biggest of them all, direct threat to the iPhone app store. Most of the points were valid and perhaps that flash is the biggest threat to iPhone app store in the following sense: Most popular iPhone programs has been games, and there are thousands of flash gaming websites that delivers equal quality games if not better. It would have threatened the paid iPhone games even though most of them are under $1. However, even if iPhone is able ran flash games, it would still had problems because most flash games are programmed to interface with the keyboard and mouse. However, I believe that the biggest problems stand between iPhone and Flash compatibility is the 3G networks. The fact is, the highly tauted 3G network is simply not mature enough to handle the data transmitted through all the smart phones, and of course the most data intensive device: iPhone. Not to name that AT&T’s questionable 3G network which has came under criticism from many users around the world. Just think about one example, say you download a iPhone game that’s 5 MB. You will only have to download the game once to play it over and over again. Not so with flash applications, because flash games have to be loaded in a browser it will transmit 5 MB of data every time the user wish to play the game. Not to mention popular TV program streaming websites such as Hulu which uses flash video.
Given the instability of the 3G network (especially AT&T), it is unlikely that iPhone and Flash will make a union anytime soon. It is reported that even though 3G network is most widely implemented in metropolitan areas, it is also the most intensive data usage areas. We can all cross our fingers and pray someday smart phone will run as fast as our desktops.
Chang is a 20 some years old web technology enthusiast, he loves open source web application design and development. In his spare times, he loves to explore new technologies, web 2.0 and its business implications,