The BBC Shows by Example Why Apple Is Right to Keep Flash Off iOS

Daniel Danker, on BBC iPlayer apps for mobile platforms:

For iPad it’s straightforward, but for technical reasons we can’t bring the app to every single Android device. To download and use the app you’ll need a device that uses Android version 2.2 and has Adobe Flash 10.1 Player installed. Our Flash streams need a powerful mobile phone processor and a Wi-Fi connection to ensure a smooth viewing experience, which means that only newer, more powerful Android 2.2 devices connected via Wi-Fi can support the Flash 10.1 streaming experience.

I.e., rather than write a native Android app, they’re going to use Flash. If iOS supported Flash, it seems a safe bet that they wouldn’t have written native iOS clients, but would have used Flash there, too. You can always bring extra batteries, right?

★ Wednesday, 9 February 2011