Adobe speaks out on iPad’s lack of Flash support

Adobe has posted a new article on its Flash Platform blog discussing Apple’s iPad announcement and the device’s lack of Flash support. After calling the iPad a “pretty good new device” and discussing the various Adobe technologies that do appear on the iPad, including PDF and ePub support, Adobe employee Adrian Ludwig lambasts Apple for its choice to leave Flash support off the iPad. “It looks like Apple is continuing to impose restrictions on their devices that limit both content publishers and consumers,” Ludwig writes. “Unlike many other ebook readers using the ePub file format, consumers will not be able to access ePub content with Apple’s DRM technology on devices made by other manufacturers.  And without Flash support, iPad users will not be able to access the full range of web content, including over 70% of games and 75% of video on the web. If I want to use the iPad to connect to Disney, Hulu, Miniclip, Farmville, ESPN, Kongregate, or JibJab—not to mention the millions of other sites on the web—I’ll be out of luck.” Adobe CEO Shantanu Narayen said in February 2009 that Apple and Adobe were “collaborating” in an effort to bring Flash to the iPhone, but no further statements have been made since.