MattMaroon.com

So, what about Flash running on Apple devices? We have shown that Flash technology is starting to work on these devices today by enabling standalone applications for the iPhone to be built on Flash. In fact, some of these apps are already available in the Apple App Store such as FickleBlox and Chroma Circuit. This same solution will work on the iPad as well. We are ready to enable Flash in the browser on these devices if and when Apple chooses to allow that for its users, but to date we have not had the required cooperation from Apple to make this happen.

I think if I were Adobe I’d be using a little more stick with my carrots here. Adobe may need Apple more than Apple needs Flash on the iPhone. May. But the reverse is clearly true on the Mac. If Adobe drops Flash support on OSX. Only about 8% of people in the US use Macs, and 3% globally, but nearly all want Flash.

One of the biggest gripes people have with Macs are all of the things you can’t do. Like playing PC games? Many major ones don’t support it natively, Ask my coworkers who run League of Legends in VMWare, it’s brutal. Email client? Have you seen Apple Mail and Entourage? Both are abysmal.

Removing Flash from OSX would have a majorly deleterious effect on their market share. Flash is so tightly couple with the web that the freetard backlash wouldn’t have any effect at all. A few big sites like YouTube might find some other way to work around it, but there would be enough MLB.com type plays out there to make people bitch to Cupertino non-stop.

So if I’m Adobe, I’m gambling here and telling them it’s all or nothing.