Apple vs Adobe (or Gone in a Flash?)

It’s been interesting, to say the least, to follow the public battle between Adobe and Apple related to Flash and HTML5. Steve Jobs posted an bold letter to customers this morning on Apple’s website, which caused yet another wave of reactions through the twitterverse, as well as responses from Shantanu Narayen (Adobe CEO) and Kevin Lynch (Adobe CTO).

I remember the beginnings of Apple and Adobe’s relationship. In fact, the company my father started was involved with both companies back in those days. I remember later when Apple stock was in the toilet, and analysts were saying that Apple might go out of business. I recall Adobe at that time made a decision (I don’t know if anyone can blame them, fairly) to focus on the Windows platform which owned the business environment and was gaining ground in the desktop publishing and graphic design arena. Even though Steve Jobs was not at the helm at that time, I have wondered recently if he was upset by Adobe’s decision back then – I’m sure if I Google it I might be able to find out (some reporter my age or older must have asked Steve that question already?).

Some of Steve’s comments today about Flash make sense. But companies I have worked for have been on the receiving end of his sometimes selfish and surprising decisions which weren’t always motivated by good business sense alone. While I’m not defending Adobe here, their decision to focus on the Windows platform back in the day could arguably be viewed as a purely strategic business decision. Steve’s decisions aren’t always this clear cut. In some ways, they’ve made Apple what it is. In other ways, those decisions have made Apple a dangerous company to partner with, or rely on. Partnering with Apple seems a dangerous (albeit seductive) dance, and almost always requires a contingency plan in case Steve changes direction on you.

I agree that Flash isn’t an “open” format. It may be ubiquitous, as Steve pointed out, but that doesn’t mean it is open. Conversely, I’m not sure I buy Steve’s arguments related to crashing, battery power, and rollover functionality as to why Apple is not supporting Flash. I think the main reason is related to control. However, if game developers can make games for the iFamily in HTML5 and bypass the Apple store and their approval process, that argument will be null. Time will tell.

The ultimate question is, even though Adobe is focusing on all the other mobile platforms for Flash, if you are a publisher, advertiser, or game developer would you want to have to develop your site, your content, or your game for both Flash and HTML5 and H.264, or would you just use the latter which will run on all devices equally? Without picking sides, I can’t see why anyone would pick the first choice for resources and time and maintenance reasons. I suppose that would mean the end of Flash, and would be a big blow to Adobe unless they found a way to participate in, and support, the other formats from within their applications just as easily as Flash.

I think that today (well, the past 8 weeks really) is historic with respect to the relationship between the two great grandparents of desktop publishing. It will be interesting to see what happens in the next few years, but if I had to put my money on one horse or the other (Flash or HTML5) I’d have to bet against Flash.