One of Adobe's leading product managers for Flash CS5 announced on his personal blog that Adobe would not continue to invest in or promote its Flash-to-IPA packaging technology. It was this technology that made it possible to build applications in Flash and convert those applications to native IPA format for use on the iPhone.
"A little over a week ago Apple released a new draft of their iPhone developer program license," wrote Mike Chambers. "Essentially, this has the effect of restricting applications built with a number of technologies, including Unity, Titanium, MonoTouch, and Flash CS5. While it appears that Apple may selectively enforce the terms, it is our belief that Apple will enforce those terms as they apply to content created with Flash CS5. Developers should be prepared for Apple to remove existing content and applications (100+ on the store today) created with Flash CS5 from the iTunes store.
"We will still be shipping the ability to target the iPhone and iPad in Flash CS5. However, we are not currently planning any additional investments in that feature."
Apple's decision to require developers to use a particular toolset has sparked intense debate in the web development community.
"I think it's ridiculous, honestly," said one professional web developer in a LinkedIn discussion. "It's like hiring contractors to fix your roof, but you dictate what tools they are allowed to use. I think Apple forgets without developers there [are] no apps. I just hope it doesn't affect products like Unity and Torque. I know many other projects have been shut down due to this already."
Others in the industry believe that Apple had ever right to restrict how development is actually done.
"Steve Jobs has made it clear that he wants nothing to do with Flash on Apple's mobile platforms. It's kind of surprising that Adobe thought that they could bypass Apple's restrictions. The iPhone's development environment is not as flexible and free as Flash; it's a bit more disciplined. And quite frankly, many Flash developers tend to be a bit sloppy with their files, code. I don't blame Apple for taking the hard line. It's like anything else—adhere to the rules, or don't bother getting involved. If you want to develop for the iPhone, learn the SDK. If not, there's always Android," said Charles Conyers, Jr..
