Apple iPad: Another Reason HTML5 will Beat Flash

Many people have been using Adobe technology for next generation "rich internet applications." Many folks -- myself included -- have warned against this kind of behavior. Flash is a stopgap solution with a lot of cool features, but it would be unwise to use it as a long-term standard. I mentioned earlier in my HTML 5 versus Flash/Flex post, that enough of these flashy features will be a part of HTML 5 and WebKit enabled browsers... so you might want to start pushing them as a requirement.

Another reason why you should avoid Flash? The new Apple iPad.

The jury is still out about this one... Steve Jobs says it's the most important accomplishment of his life, while haters are bashing it almost as much as they bashed the original iPod. Personally, I'm disappointed in its lack of a camera or voice recorder. Other than that I'll have to kick the tires on it a bit.

However, some folks are shocked that the iPad will not run Flash or Flex applications! You know all that time and effort you spent making flashy gizmos for your web app? Well, get ready to do it all over again... because the new iPad does not run Mac OS X. It runs a modified version of the iPhone OS, which never, ever, ever supported Flash... and there are zero plans to support it.

Likely, the future is going to be CSS, JS, and HTML 5. Yes, I know Flash fanboys will say that those technologies are just plain awful when you want total control over the look and feel across multiple browsers... and they are 100% correct. But, sorry to say, it's not always the best technology that wins.

UPDATE: it appears that Steve Jobs has gone on records about why the iPad and iPod will NEVER support Flash. Steve-o brings up a few more reasons I did not cover here: Flash is a power hog, it doesn't support "touch" interfaces, and it crashes a lot. Steve Jobs ends with a plea: Adobe should use its brainpower to make a cross-platform IDE for HTML5, and stop trying to cram Flash down our throats. If they don't, then the "next Adobe" certainly will...