5 ms·

The iPhone Threat to Adobe, Microsoft, Sun, Real, BREW, Symbian

13 points by wmorein 19y ago

mattculbreth 19y ago
Good article. One thing it says resonates with me--the part about developers choosing to avoid flash since the iPhone won't support it. Our app has reporting and charting as a main feature and some of the best charting components are flash-based. I've already decided to find something else (JS/CSS/whatever) so that it can run on the iPhone.
- gibsonf1 19y ago
  We're generating svg graph files with AT&T's open source graphviz product. Graphviz is really impressive.
  - wmorein 19y ago
    Unfortunately I tested the iPhone Safari -- it doesn't support svg right now. Safari for Leopard is supposed to support it so I imagine it will come in an update.
    - gibsonf1 19y ago
      That is unfortunate. I'll send an email to my friend on the Iphone sw team about it right now.
      - gibsonf1 19y ago
        My friend from Iphone sw: "I have no idea when this will be available." sigh
- staunch 19y ago
  I've written lots of reporting systems. I always keep things abstracted enough that supporting new visualization methods is painless. I'll be adding support for the iPhone as a simple plugin.
strayLolCat1 19y ago
The most pointless article ever. Mobile phones are not new things! iPhone is just another mobile phone.No one is going to stop developing in Flash or Java just because it doesn't work on iPhone. Those who wanna cater to the iPhone market will make a "watered down version" of the app. Just the way an m site is developed for mobile browser.Thats it.
- jsjenkins168 19y ago
  The iPhone is more than "just another mobile phone". It is a paradigm shift in the wireless industry by a very influential company. It is widely gaining acceptance so as a developer, supporting it is a very important consideration. Simply "watering down" your app is not always possible when you are trying to do things besides serve simple HTML with no hardware interaction.
  - strayLolCat1 19y ago
    I agree with you, iPhone is not just a mobile phone..its a LOT more than . But how much has the mobile phone industry influenced the formats targeted for desktop till date? Just because of the fact that Apple dont want Flash or Java on their device doesnt mean its the end of these formats. If another device maker come up with a cheaper phone with a more powerful browser, with support for Java and Flash, things will change. Always, the fittest will survive. Flash and java are necessary evils(if you think they are evil). I dont care about the Apple logo. As of now N800 is far more better than the iPhone. And no, i dont care if you dare to call your mp3 player "ipod".
- uuilly 19y ago
  I think that, like the .com bubble, the importance of the iPhone will be overestimated in the short term and underestimated in the long term.
mynameishere 19y ago
So it will take 1 (one) must-have application written in Flash or Java to make iPhone buyers look like fools? Sounds okay to me.
- andreyf 19y ago
  If it's really a must-have application, writing it in Flash/Java leaves you open to a competitor starting off with ~1 million affluent users just by rewriting it in JS.
pg 19y ago
If I were Steve Jobs, I'd get Adobe and Microsoft into a bidding war over whether the iPhone will run Flash or Silverlight. If (a) the two are close in power, (b) all browsers can run either, (c) the iPhone runs only one, and (d) the iPhone is very popular, then the one the iPhone doesn't run dies. (a) seems to be true, (b) is currently true, modulo install, and (d) looks likely. So if Apple decided to make (c) true, they could probably anoint a winner.
- y2x 19y ago
  What marketshare do you think iphone needs to make such an impact? And why do you think it will gain that huge marketshare? Its the first "nice looking internet in your pocket". But is that enough to take over the mobile world? Couldnt other companies create type-on-screen devices with round edges? First Mover = guaranteed success?
  - pg 19y ago
    5%. iPod. It's more. No.
- willarson 19y ago
  I don't really think that not gaining access to the iPhone would be particularly devastating to Adobe or Microsoft. MS in particular has sufficiently large pockets to weather inconvenient storms. The computer based market will remain vastly larger than the phone based market. I don't have real numbers off hand, but lets assume 5% of web views are via cellphones, thus if we reach your 5% number for iPhone penetration then perhaps 0.25% of web views would be on an iPhone. I just can't see numbers that small being decisive.
danw 19y ago
I don't think what the iphone supports will matter much in the long run, it's what devices like these nokias that will have the biggest impact on the future of mobile http://www.nokia.com/A4405104 http://www.nokia.com/A4405104

13 points by wmorein 19y ago

Good article. One thing it says resonates with me--the part about developers choosing to avoid flash since the iPhone won't support it. Our app has reporting and charting as a main feature and some of the best charting components are flash-based. I've already decided to find something else (JS/CSS/whatever) so that it can run on the iPhone.

gibsonf1 19y ago
We're generating svg graph files with AT&T's open source graphviz product. Graphviz is really impressive.
- wmorein 19y ago
  Unfortunately I tested the iPhone Safari -- it doesn't support svg right now. Safari for Leopard is supposed to support it so I imagine it will come in an update.
  - gibsonf1 19y ago
    That is unfortunate. I'll send an email to my friend on the Iphone sw team about it right now.
    - gibsonf1 19y ago
      My friend from Iphone sw: "I have no idea when this will be available." sigh
staunch 19y ago
I've written lots of reporting systems. I always keep things abstracted enough that supporting new visualization methods is painless. I'll be adding support for the iPhone as a simple plugin.

strayLolCat1 19y ago

The most pointless article ever. Mobile phones are not new things! iPhone is just another mobile phone.No one is going to stop developing in Flash or Java just because it doesn't work on iPhone. Those who wanna cater to the iPhone market will make a "watered down version" of the app. Just the way an m site is developed for mobile browser.Thats it.

jsjenkins168 19y ago
The iPhone is more than "just another mobile phone". It is a paradigm shift in the wireless industry by a very influential company. It is widely gaining acceptance so as a developer, supporting it is a very important consideration. Simply "watering down" your app is not always possible when you are trying to do things besides serve simple HTML with no hardware interaction.
- strayLolCat1 19y ago
  I agree with you, iPhone is not just a mobile phone..its a LOT more than . But how much has the mobile phone industry influenced the formats targeted for desktop till date? Just because of the fact that Apple dont want Flash or Java on their device doesnt mean its the end of these formats. If another device maker come up with a cheaper phone with a more powerful browser, with support for Java and Flash, things will change. Always, the fittest will survive. Flash and java are necessary evils(if you think they are evil). I dont care about the Apple logo. As of now N800 is far more better than the iPhone. And no, i dont care if you dare to call your mp3 player "ipod".
uuilly 19y ago
I think that, like the .com bubble, the importance of the iPhone will be overestimated in the short term and underestimated in the long term.

mynameishere 19y ago

So it will take 1 (one) must-have application written in Flash or Java to make iPhone buyers look like fools? Sounds okay to me.

andreyf 19y ago
If it's really a must-have application, writing it in Flash/Java leaves you open to a competitor starting off with ~1 million affluent users just by rewriting it in JS.

pg 19y ago

If I were Steve Jobs, I'd get Adobe and Microsoft into a bidding war over whether the iPhone will run Flash or Silverlight. If (a) the two are close in power, (b) all browsers can run either, (c) the iPhone runs only one, and (d) the iPhone is very popular, then the one the iPhone doesn't run dies. (a) seems to be true, (b) is currently true, modulo install, and (d) looks likely. So if Apple decided to make (c) true, they could probably anoint a winner.

y2x 19y ago
What marketshare do you think iphone needs to make such an impact? And why do you think it will gain that huge marketshare? Its the first "nice looking internet in your pocket". But is that enough to take over the mobile world? Couldnt other companies create type-on-screen devices with round edges? First Mover = guaranteed success?
- pg 19y ago
  5%. iPod. It's more. No.
willarson 19y ago
I don't really think that not gaining access to the iPhone would be particularly devastating to Adobe or Microsoft. MS in particular has sufficiently large pockets to weather inconvenient storms. The computer based market will remain vastly larger than the phone based market. I don't have real numbers off hand, but lets assume 5% of web views are via cellphones, thus if we reach your 5% number for iPhone penetration then perhaps 0.25% of web views would be on an iPhone. I just can't see numbers that small being decisive.

danw 19y ago

I don't think what the iphone supports will matter much in the long run, it's what devices like these nokias that will have the biggest impact on the future of mobile http://www.nokia.com/A4405104 http://www.nokia.com/A4405104