by dmxplosive Fri Oct 10, 2008 12:49 am
Lack of Usability: Certain industries, such as real estate and the Hollywood, LOVE to use Flash exclusively on their sites. While on a desktop that can sometimes make for a dynamic surfing experience (and in the process jazzing up a mediocre movie or cookie-cutter condo development), on an iPhone, these sites would quickly become an exercise in frustration. Sure, in theory a site built in Flash could be optimized for the iPhone, but since some real estate sites won’t even allow users to turn off the generic house tunes signifying “urban sophistication,” don’t hold your breath.
Pretentious Design: One of the strongest features of the iPhone is that the Safari browser has not only made surfing on a mobile device enjoyable, it’s also forced designers to rethink how they design for the mobile space and hew to certain standards. On the web, the introduction of Flash meant a lot of those standards went right out the window as designers tried to outdo one another with precious, hard to understand designs. Designers should be allowed to be clever and show off... but not on a mobile device where you want your information immediately, with little, if any, bells and whistles.
Irritating Ads: Flash may have created an efficient platform for streaming video over the web, but it also allowed for a new level of interactivity (and irritation) in the online ad space. Does anyone want to “punch the monkey” or hear a smiley yell into their headphones just because their fingers brushed over an ad accidentally?
Flash and Crash: Despite Apple’s near-draconian hold on what does, and doesn’t, get into the App Store, approved applications are still able to crash the iPhone and send users back to their home screen. Get ready to see a lot more of that home screen if Flash (or Adobe Air) apps come to the iPhone.
Standards: Love it or hate it, Apple's "our way or the highway" attitude is what gives the iPhone its easy to use, streamline interface. It's that interface that keeps us heading back to the Apple Store instead of using sub-standard phones running last-gen browsers and sporting clunky interfaces. Apple’s walled garden approach may justifiably irk users hankering for specific features like streaming video or compatibility with Flash-based websites, but Apple’s history indicates it not only won't cede approve of standards it can’t control, but also that Apple, right or wrong, will decide what its users need, rather than want, on their devices.
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