Forget all the hype we’ve heard. It seems that the Apple iPhone will not offer the full Web, after all. At least not according to Apple’s developer specifications.
Here is a deeper look at the issue:
Near essential applications such as Flash and Java will not be viewable at all on the iPhone and JavaScript applications will be limited to just five seconds runtime when using the built-in Safari browser.
Although YouTube has announced videos will be available for the iPhone, they are having to be recoded into Quicktime rather than Flash based as per the desktop version.
Apple will need to rethink their advertising campaign before it hits the UK as the ASA will surely have something to say.
I am sure that the marketing team at Apple will claim that Flash and Java aren’t necessary for a “full” Web experience, but frankly, I don’t see how you can claim you offer a complete experience without them.
Java in particular is vital to many mobile Web sites and its pretty important for the desktop Web too.
I am interested to see how the Safari browser on the iPhone will render many sites without Java access or some kind of JVM.
While the iPhone won’t offer the whole Web, it will at least have YouTube and so far it looks like access to YouTube on the iPhone will be free.
What do you think? Will the lack of Flash, Java and other applications on the iPhone make it less usable?
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WHAT!!?! No Flash? That’s a big deal, man. I’ve lost some respect for them if this is true.
It’s true as of this post, however Apple does have a little over a week to add it into the software before the official iPhone release on the 29th.
Ah yes, another Apple product that doesn’t live up to the ads. Apple is king of overstated advertising. Did I say overstated, I meant condescending. I love how one of their iPhone ads starts out by insulting iPod users with something like “I bet your iPod can’t do this…or this…”
wait, didn’t you guys make the iPod??? You’re right, this thing is a piece of crap that can’t do what I *need* it to do. I guess I should buy an iPhone then.
If there is one thing Apple is good at though, it is convincing a large number of people that they are better off with a product that delivers less and has more restrictions on its usage.
As much as I don’t like Flash most of the time, it does seem like a pretty big omission as there are many sites that make extensive use of it. Although I’m sure that if there’s enough demand for it, Apple will release an update to enable Flash somewhere down the road.