The tech world is buzzing about the letter Steve Jobs wrote about Adobe Flash. I was prepared to do a post slamming Jobs and Apple, based on headlines I had seen -- ones mentioning how Apple no longer likes Flash because it's closed. As a veteran of the PC v. Mac wars of the 1990s, and which are still ongoing, I was going to talk of Apple's hypocrisy. PCs became dominant because the hardware is open, and Apple filed bankruptcy because Macs are closed.
After reading the Jobs letter, I'm not so sure. It just goes to show that reading the source material is better than a media summary.
Apple's position is well stated, and makes sense. Ultimately, it seems to be a control issue -- who controls the content that mobile device users have access to. Apple wants it, and Adobe wants a piece of the action. Each company is calling the other "closed". Jobs says it's a technology issue, not a business issue. Several analysts say it's both.
Ars Technica has a poll, with over 18,000 votes so far, about the Jobs letter. Just over half of the voters "think it's fine for Apple to block Flash on iPhone OS devices."
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