Flash Media Server 4.5
So Boy Genius Report got everyone pretty worked up when they wrote last week’s article entitled, Adobe Finally Brings Flash to iPhone and iPad. I got not one but several emails asking me what this really means, and one telling me that the day had come: Apple devices now support Flash and I’m wrong when I say, “That’s not what Adobe announced.”
The problem is that BGR has the announcement’s reality entirely backwards. This is what Adobe actually announced:
With Adobe Flash Media Server 4.5, media publishers now have a single, simple workflow for delivering content using the same stream to Flash-enabled devices or to the Apple iPhone and iPad,” Adobe said in a statement. Flash Media Server 4.5 allows publishers to stream Flash content to iOS devices, which means support within the iOS Safari browser is not required. Instead of relying on a device’s processor to render the stream, which often degrades battery life and slows a device down, Adobe’s Flash Media Server 4.5 does all the legwork.
Translated from Geekese to Realworldish: the new Flash Media Server will send HTML5 video to iOS devices. It will also send pure Flash-wrappered video to other devices that support native Flash.
Let’s say that one more time: the new FMS will not send Flash to iOS devices, but HTML5 video, which is what Apple has been arguing for and embracing since it got into the mobile game with iOS as an operating system.
Translated yet one step further: this is Adobe supplicating, knowing full well that iOS won’t be supporting Flash anytime soon.
So why do this? Easy: the iOS market is too big to ignore. You have to build inroads to it lest it start eroding your product’s marketshare based on its sheer size. Had Adobe not done this, HTML5 would still be served en masse to iOS devices, just not by an Adobe-powered server.
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More links:
MIPRO Consulting main website.
